Ferrari SF-26 upgrades showed promise despite Miami disappointment, says former IndyCar star. Ferrari’s major SF-26 upgrade package in Miami delivered a frustrating result.

Ferrari may have left the Miami Grand Prix with fewer points than hoped, but there are growing signs that the Scuderia’s latest Formula 1 development package could still provide a platform for stronger performances in the coming races.

The Maranello team arrived in Florida with one of the most aggressive upgrade packages seen so far in the 2026 Formula 1 season, introducing 11 revised components aimed at unlocking more performance from the SF-26. Expectations were naturally high, particularly as Ferrari looked to close the gap to its direct rivals in both qualifying and race pace.

However, the final classification failed to reflect the team’s underlying potential.

Lewis Hamilton’s race was effectively compromised almost immediately after first-lap contact with Alpine driver Franco Colapinto. The incident inflicted significant aerodynamic damage on the SF-26, costing Lewis Hamilton crucial downforce and leaving the seven-time world champion battling a car that was no longer operating at its intended performance window.

On the other side of the garage, Charles Leclerc appeared far more competitive. The Monegasque driver remained firmly in the podium fight for much of the Miami weekend and briefly looked capable of converting Ferrari’s improved pace into a major result.

But Ferrari’s hopes unraveled dramatically in the closing stages.

A late spin for Charles Leclerc ended what had been a promising drive, with the Ferrari driver making contact with the barriers and sustaining damage. In his effort to bring the car home, Charles Leclerc cut multiple corners, which later resulted in a post-race penalty that further damaged Ferrari’s final points tally.

What could have been a significantly stronger weekend ultimately became a frustrating sixth and eighth-place finish — a result that inevitably raised questions about whether Ferrari’s highly anticipated upgrades had delivered enough.

Why Ferrari’s Miami performance may not tell the full story

Former IndyCar race winner and motorsport analyst James Hinchcliffe believes the headline result does not accurately represent Ferrari’s true progress.

Speaking in his analysis of the Miami Grand Prix weekend, James Hinchcliffe argued that the circumstances surrounding both Ferrari drivers distorted the real picture. His assessment suggested that without Charles Leclerc’s late error and Lewis Hamilton’s opening-lap damage, Ferrari may well have emerged from Miami with a far more encouraging result.

From that perspective, Ferrari’s performance data may be more promising than the points table suggests.

Importantly, Miami was also a sprint weekend — one of the most difficult formats for teams introducing major technical updates. With reduced practice time and limited opportunities for setup experimentation, extracting the full benefit of a substantial upgrade package becomes significantly harder.

That context matters.

Ferrari was not expected to instantly find a dramatic one-second-per-lap gain overnight, and development packages in modern Formula 1 often require multiple race weekends before engineers fully understand how to optimise them across varying track conditions.

Can Ferrari’s SF-26 upgrades help Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc fight back?

For Ferrari, the bigger question is whether these improvements can consistently move Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc closer to the sharp end of the grid in the coming rounds.

While Miami delivered frustration, there were enough indicators to suggest Ferrari’s 2026 Formula 1 car is moving in a more competitive direction. Charles Leclerc’s front-running pace before the late incident offered one clue, while Lewis Hamilton’s compromised race makes his final result difficult to judge in isolation.

As the Formula 1 season progresses, Ferrari’s challenge will be translating technical progress into clean race execution. If the Miami upgrade package proves to be the first meaningful step in Ferrari’s development curve, the disappointment of Florida may quickly be forgotten. But if performance gains remain inconsistent, questions around Ferrari’s 2026 Formula 1 project will only intensify.