Bleak verdict cast on Ferrari’s underwhelming Miami F1 upgrades

Ferrari has “slipped behind” its Formula 1 rivals despite introducing a much-hyped upgrade at the Miami Grand Prix.

Expectations were high for Ferrari in Miami given the Italian outfit debuted a major upgrade package following F1’s enforced five-week break in April after the cancellation of races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Ferrari’s revised SF-26 failed to live up to its hype, however, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc (who was hit with a huge post-race penalty) only able to finish sixth and eighth.

McLaren and Red Bull also brought upgraded cars and appeared to make bigger improvements to close the gap to F1 leaders Mercedes compared to Ferrari.

"If that is the big Ferrari upgrade for this early part of the season, then McLaren and Mercedes won't be worried,” Karun Chandhok told the Sky Sports F1 podcast.

"Miami should have been the weekend which propelled them in front. I feel like they've slipped behind. For me, there should be a little bit of concern at Maranello and Ferrari.”

Ferrari could yet fall further behind Mercedes when the German manufacturer brings its own upgrade to the Canadian Grand Prix.

"They've got to think about whether there's further performance to be optimised or unlocked from this update because otherwise they will get dropped behind when McLaren add the bits that we believe are coming to Canada and Mercedes get their big upgrade,” Chandhok added.

Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft believes Ferrari could be “in trouble” if it doesn’t have another upgrade in the works soon.

"I don't know what it is with Ferrari,” he said of Ferrari’s drop-off in form.

“Is it that small turbo that's great in the opening laps, but as the fuel kind of burns off with the other cars, then they don't have that advantage from that smaller turbo, and it becomes a disadvantage for them? Would Lewis Hamilton have featured more without losing all that downforce early on?

“I hope on the drawing board somewhere at Maranello, they've got another upgrade package that works a little bit better, otherwise they are in trouble."