Ferrari SF-26: tyre degradation concerns emerge after opening races as Mercedes sets the benchmark. Ferrari faces growing concerns over tyre wear on the SF-26 after the opening races.

The first two races of the Formula 1 season have revealed a trend that Ferrari hopes to overturn in Miami with a major upgrade package.

There is a common thread — quite literally a red one — running through Ferrari’s opening two races of the season, and it is not one of optimism. Instead, it points to a (relatively small) technical concern that could grow into something more significant. It may not be a systemic issue, but it is certainly one that risks influencing performance. The SF-26’s tyre management has not been convincing, and as the laps go by during race stints, the gap to rivals becomes increasingly clear. When referring to rivals, the focus is on the Mercedes W17, currently the only car that Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are effectively chasing.

Ferrari SF-26: Pirelli tyre wear higher than Mercedes

This pattern has appeared consistently in both Melbourne and Shanghai during the main race. In the Sprint race, the situation looked more positive, although setups may not have been fully optimized at that stage. Ferrari’s two drivers have managed to limit the damage during the early phases of each stint, keeping up — at least partially — with their direct competitors.

However, as the laps increase, the SF-26 begins to “betray” its drivers: either the tyres wear out too quickly in the attempt to match Mercedes’ pace, or the structural degradation generated by the car itself is simply higher than that of its rivals. These two hypotheses are not mutually exclusive, which is perhaps the most concerning aspect of all.

A significant clue emerged in Shanghai, where the post-safety car phase put the differences between the two cars under the spotlight. George Russell struggled considerably to bring the hard tyres back into the correct temperature window after the neutralization. Paradoxically, this highlighted how Mercedes manages tyre degradation differently compared to Ferrari. The Scuderia, on the other hand, seems to suffer precisely when the tyres are already under stress and wear becomes a critical factor.

Ferrari: do lightning starts mask the underlying issues?

The most frustrating aspect for Ferrari is that these weaknesses have often been masked by excellent race starts, allowing both cars to recover positions into Turn 1 that were lost during qualifying. However, a strategy built around gaining ground at the start is inherently fragile and cannot serve as a reliable “Plan A” over the course of an entire championship campaign.

At Maranello, they are fully aware of this limitation. Following the enforced break caused by international disruptions that temporarily slowed down Formula 1 operations, the technical department led by Loïc Serra has accelerated work on a substantial upgrade package, expected to debut at the Miami Grand Prix. The goal is to make meaningful improvements to the car’s aerodynamic balance and its behavior under high-degradation conditions, aiming to give the drivers a more predictable car that is less dependent on the freshness of the tyre compounds.

Miami, after this unexpected pause, will not simply be another race. For Ferrari, it represents a crucial test — the moment to understand whether the issues identified in the opening rounds of the season can be resolved in the short term, or whether the recovery path will be longer and more complex.