Formula 1 pundit Karun Chandhok has issued a grim outlook for Ferrari after its SF-26’s upgrades failed to deliver additional performance at the Miami Grand Prix.
The Scuderia brought a total of 11 changes to its car for the fourth round of the championship, the first after F1’s enforced five-week break.
After the opening two rounds, it was apparent that the SF-26 was the second-most competitive package on the track, but looked to have been caught up by McLaren in Japan.
With more upgrades than any other team, including the reintroduction of its ‘Macarena’ wing, there was hope that it would enable Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to muscle its way back towards the very front.
But both drivers were unable to mount significant challenges, with Leclerc sixth – eighth after a 20-second penalty – and Hamilton seventh – promoted to Leclerc’s sixth place – after a each suffering a tricky afternoon in the Sunshine State.
Leclerc did wind-up in his underwhelming position due to a late spin and brush with the wall amid battling with Oscar Piastri for third, and Hamilton later admitted to race-long struggles due to performance-hampering damage, sustained after a Lap 1 collision with Franco Colapinto’s Alpine.
However, it was obvious that the car’s overall speed was not a match for that of either McLaren nor Red Bull, both of which also arrived with upgrades.
“I think it was overall, a bit disappointing for them,” the former Chandhok told Sky’s The F1 Podcast.
“As someone from McLaren and someone else from Mercedes both pointed out to me, ‘if that is the big Ferrari upgrade for this early part of the season, then we’re not worried, because if that’s the best they’ve got, and they haven’t got something coming for a little while, we’ll be OK’.
“This should have been the weekend which propelled them in front, doesn’t it?”
‘Concern’ for Ferrari likely after Miami race
Chandhok believes that Ferrari has now firmly placed itself behind McLaren and Red Bull as well as Mercedes in terms of on-track performance.
“We know Mercedes are out of sync. They’re bringing their upgrade to Canada. Ferrari were ahead of Red Bull and were ahead of McLaren, and I feel like they’ve slipped behind.
“If Max [Verstappen] hadn’t spun [at the start of the race], I don’t think he would have been quick enough to challenge Kimi or Lando, but he would have been third. I think he would have been ahead of Oscar and Charles.
“So for me, I think there’s a little bit of concern, or there should be a little bit of concern at Maranello and Ferrari.
“Lewis just looked behind didn’t he? He was just behind Charles by a couple of tenths, two, three tenths all weekend. Obviously, in the race, he was compromised with the damage.
“But I think they’ve got to think about whether there’s further performance to be optimised or unlocked from this update, because otherwise they’re going to get dropped behind when McLaren have more go faster bits that we believe are coming to Canada, and Mercedes get their big upgrade.”
Early promise that Ferrari had been showing appears to have been, for the time being at least, nullified by its rivals, but with plenty of upgrades likely to be coming from all teams across the grid, there is still scope for the form book to change.
READ MORE – Charles Leclerc demands Ferrari ‘look at’ underwhelming Miami GP performance
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