Rob Smedley concerned Ferrari is stuck in ‘negative loop’ after Miami Grand Prix struggles

Rob Smedley has raised concerns that Ferrari may be caught in a ‘negative loop’ after their difficult weekend at the Miami Grand Prix.

Going into the race, there was hope that Ferrari could put some pressure on Mercedes around the Miami International Autodrome.

The Scuderia arrived with 11 upgrades, but the on-track performance didn’t live up to expectations.

Charles Leclerc finished sixth, but a 20-second penalty dropped him to eighth. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, moved up to sixth despite an early collision with Franco Colapinto.

Smedley told F1TV: “I think Ferrari could be entering what I call a negative loop where there’s so much more pressure coming down from Maranello.”

Rob Smedley fears Ferrari may be trapped in a downward spiral

Speaking on the High Performance Racing podcast, former Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley suggested that the team may be trapped in a ‘negative loop’ following their recent upgrades, which failed to improve the car’s pace.

The 52-year-old, who spent nearly a decade with Ferrari between 2004 and 2013, described the Miami weekend as potentially “soul-destroying” for everyone involved with the team.

Smedley went on to explain: “It’s slightly soul-destroying because from a technical point of view it starts this negative loop. You need to figure out what you brought, what’s working, and what isn’t.

“If things aren’t correlating—if your wind tunnel or simulation tools don’t match up with what’s happening on track—you have to go through this reverse-engineering process,” he continued. “You end up going back to the tunnel, which delays all the development work that should be happening there. It just keeps circling back.”

He went on: “Tunnel time is limited by aerodynamic testing regulations—the ATR only allows so much. It’s a mix of wind tunnel and CFD [computational fluid dynamics] time.

“If you’re using that time to solve correlation issues instead of developing performance improvements, then technically speaking… you’re f——.”

Charles Leclerc regrets costly mistake during Miami Grand Prix

In the final laps, Leclerc was closing in on Oscar Piastri, aiming to add another podium to his tally.

But as the last lap began, he spun into the wall and picked up damage. That left him vulnerable to both George Russell and Max Verstappen, who soon got by. He was also penalised for track limits violations.

Afterwards, Leclerc said: “It’s all on me. I don’t have much to add other than that. Very disappointed with my mistake. It shouldn’t happen.

“I pushed very hard in the second-to-last lap. I thought it was a good idea to let Oscar go for me to get the overtake [boost mode]. I knew it was going to be very difficult to get in front otherwise.

“It was a very poor decision, and in the space of four corners I put a very strong race in the bin. I am very frustrated about that. Not much more to say.”