Guenther Steiner explains why Ferrari has no easy fix after McLaren surge

Guenther Steiner believes there are multiple, smaller problems to be fixed at Ferrari rather than one big issue.

While Ferrari has had a strong start to the 2026 season, with Lewis Hamilton celebrating his first grand prix podium finish with the Maranello outfit at the Chinese Grand Prix, the team arrived at the Miami Grand Prix under threat from McLaren. 

The unexpected five-week break in April gave teams the opportunity to bring upgrades to Miami. A heavily upgraded car resulted in a major boost for McLaren. And as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished second and third, respectively, in the grand prix, Hamilton finished sixth and Charles Leclerc was classified 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 explained during an appearance 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."

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

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When asked which area he thinks needs improvement for Ferrari, 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."