Rob Smedley, former Formula 1 engineer, has expressed his concern about Ferrari’s current situation after the latest updates to their car, which he described as “slightly disheartening”. This alert comes after McLaren achieved superior performance during the Miami Grand Prix, narrowing the gap with the Italians.
After a promising start to the 2026 season, which included Lewis Hamilton’s first podium with Ferrari at the Chinese Grand Prix, McLaren has surprised with its significant improvements. In the Miami race, the British team secured second and third places, leaving Ferrari with just a 16-point lead.
In a recent appearance on the High Performance Racing podcast, Smedley commented on the weight of this situation: “It’s slightly disheartening, as this can trigger a negative cycle that will need thorough analysis. We must ask ourselves: what have we delivered? What works and what doesn’t?” The engineer emphasized the importance of the correlation between simulation results and real on-track performance.
The directive of a proper functioning between the wind tunnel and the data collected during the race is crucial, but Smedley admitted that a lack of correlation can severely complicate the development process. “If there is not a good correlation, you might get lucky and make the car go faster, but that’s not sustainable in the long term,” he noted.
This situation has left the Italian team with a dilemma: they will need to redirect resources to address correlation issues instead of focusing on improving vehicle performance. Engineers must be able to resolve these issues before being able to move forward and continue improving.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI