Guenther Steiner has suggested that Ferrari’s recent difficulties are the result of several minor weaknesses rather than one big problem that would be simpler to correct.
Despite a solid start to the 2026 season—including Lewis Hamilton’s first podium finish with Ferrari at the Chinese Grand Prix—the team faced renewed pressure from McLaren at the Miami Grand Prix. The unexpected five-week break in April allowed teams to introduce upgrades, with McLaren benefiting significantly from a heavily revised car. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished second and third in the race, while Hamilton came sixth and Charles Leclerc eighth after a 20-second penalty.
“There’s always something. The last little bit is missing. I would wish nothing better for them to get over that hurdle and to stay there because maybe when you get that feeling, you carry everything,” the former Haas team principal said on The Red Flags Podcast. “Then they announced already, John Elkann said that Ferrari is back. Yeah, guess what? A race later, they’re back where they were before. Just give yourself time to announce things. Get there and be there, not just get there.”
When asked which area he believes Ferrari needs to improve, Steiner added: “There is not one thing, it’s a lot of little things. There’s not one big thing because if there were one big thing, it would be easier to fix. There’s a lot of little things. It seems like they struggle more when the tyres get older. That’s normally down to downforce because you slide more, you use them up more. I think the power unit is pretty good, but it seems that always the beginning of the race, they can fight, and the further you go into the race, the worse it gets for them. The power unit shouldn’t get worse over distance, so it’s one of these things I don’t really know. But they are very close again. It’s not that they are far off.”
