Nico Rosberg believes that Ferrari continues to suffer from its recurring strategy and communication problems: the 2016 world champion sees this weakness as the real weak link.
In Madrid, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were never really able to compete for pole position.
However, Hamilton climbed up to third place at the start of the race before retiring on the seventh lap due to a brake system failure.
Ferrari must do better
For his part, Leclerc led 32 of the 57 laps thanks to an alternate strategy. Ferrari extended his stint hoping that a safety car at the end of the race would offer him a chance for victory or a podium. The Monegasque finally pitted on lap 48 and finished fourth.
For Rosberg, Ferrari actually has a car good enough to achieve better results: “Ferrari still has complicated weekends, don’t they? he asked on Sky Sports F1. Their Achilles’ heel remains strategy and communication. It has always been a weakness and it still is today.”
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The former Mercedes driver even believes Hamilton could have comfortably finished second without his mechanical problem: “The car’s pace is really close to what’s needed to regularly fight for wins. They are very close, but they just can’t put everything together properly. That’s the main problem they face.”
Leclerc nuances the verdict
Leclerc, however, has a different view of the Spanish weekend. According to him, Ferrari mainly paid the price for its qualifying difficulties, a recurring problem since the start of the 2026 season.
The SF-26 would be more competitive in race conditions than with low fuel load on a flying lap: “I really don’t think we are worse than the others,” admits the Monegasque driver. “Our car is simply a bit weaker in qualifying than in the race.”
Leclerc particularly believes that Ferrari suffered against McLaren in sections requiring aggressive attacks on the curbs: “We paid the price for that this weekend. Overall, I always feel like we start with a disadvantage in qualifying.”
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