Ferrari’s pit wall paralysis strikes again in strategically decisive Spanish GP

Strategic paralysis once again costs Ferrari

Scuderia Ferrari certainly didn’t have the qualifying session it would have wanted ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton taking fifth and Charles Leclerc just behind him in seventh.

A strong start from the drivers saw them both launch past the wayward Mercedes of George Russell on the first lap, leaving Hamilton fourth and Leclerc fifth.

It was instantly clear that Hamilton did not have pace. As his Monegasque team-mate tailed him right from the start, the team remained quiet on the radio to allow the drivers to fight against one another rather than mount a challenge on the rest of the field.

It wasn’t until Lap 9 that the order came for Hamilton to move over for his quicker team-mate, by which point the gap between third and fourth was a whopping 10.5 seconds. Had Hamilton been instructed to move over earlier, Leclerc might well have saved three to four seconds.

Though Charles Leclerc was able to open up a gap right away, communication between the drivers and their respective strategists grew more strained throughout the event.

When Hamilton pitted on Lap 17 for medium tyres, he questioned the decision by saying, “That’s a long way to go,” only to be told he was protecting against an undercut. An undercut that did inevitably come from George Russell.

Two laps later, Hamilton again asked for clarification and again was told the stop was to protect against an undercut.

On that same lap, Leclerc was instructed to ‘push,’ to which he replied, “That’s what I’m doing already.”

The two drivers were en route to a subdued result until Kimi Antonelli’s power unit died, beaching his Mercedes in the gravel and requiring a full Safety Car. Both Ferrari drivers pitted; ultimately, the move allowed Leclerc to get past Max Verstappen, though Hamilton found himself passed by Nico Hulkenberg for what would have been a fifth-place finish.

Ferrari largely stumbled into a good day — but its own strategy wouldn’t have been able to earn it a podium had it not been for outside circumstances.

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Ferrari’s uninspired strategy felt particularly cumbersome in Spain when compared to the strategies of the other front-runners.

Take Red Bull, for example, which displayed a masterclass in creativity, decisiveness, and conviction.

Max Verstappen was quick from the get-go, bypassing Lando Norris for second place at the start, harassing Oscar Piastri for the lead, then making an early stop to swap from one set of soft tyres to another. Lap 48 saw him snag a set of mediums and emerge back onto the track in third.

The reigning champion’s mandate was simple: Push like hell, use up everything those tyres had to offer, and see just how close he could get to the drivers in the much faster McLarens.

All the while, Verstappen’s frustration on the radio was softened by an amiable Gianpiero Lambiase, who could respond to his driver’s complaints about the gearbox by calling back to the Dutchman’s complaints a week previously, comparing the gearbox to one from 1973.

This weekend, GP asked, “1973?” while Verstappen clarified that he felt it was more of a ’74 box. An easy back-and-forth between two men who clearly trust one another.

Unfortunately, the daring strategy paired with the late Safety Car and Verstappen’s temper ended their hopes of a strong day.

Red Bull opted to make a fourth stop after Antonelli brought out a Safety Car, but all the team had left was a pair of fresh hard tyres.

Coming to the restart, Verstappen deftly managed a wild slide, but the wobble was enough to allow Leclerc’s Ferrari to sneak by. A touch-and-go battle with George Russell ensued that left Verstappen frustrated, running into the driver of the No. 63 and netting himself a 10-second penalty that plummeted him all the way down to 10th.

And what of McLaren? The team with the fastest car on the grid has also struggled to master the strategy game, being slow to transform its run plans to accommodate its front-of-the-field characteristics. As such, McLaren is reactive, not proactive — but the strategy doesn’t need to be perfect when the car is so strong.

This was clear in Spain. Both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris started on soft tyres, then swapped to mediums for the final stint of the race.

However, they were offered a chance to decisively respond to the Safety Car brought out by Kimi Antonelli, and McLaren chose to double-stack its drivers. Having opted for the more conservative early strategy, both Piastri and Norris had used soft tyres available for the final push to the end of the race, and retained their top two positions.

In this case, a conservative, reactive strategy worked for McLaren, while the proactive and daring strategy came back to bite Red Bull Racing in the end — but these are the risks that must be taken in the top tier of the sport.

Still, both of those options were significantly more impressive than Ferrari, which had observed, hesitated, acted slowly, and failed to adequately communicate with its drivers. Leclerc was able to benefit, but without the Safety Car, a podium would have been off the table. In Hamilton’s case, the reasoning for his strategy was undermined by Russell managing to undercut him nevertheless.

The fact that this is nothing new should be no excuse for Ferrari. The SF-25 may be a handful to manage, but the team has signed two of the best drivers in the field. A decisive strategy can help push back against the weaknesses of the car, to put its drivers in the ideal position to secure its best possible finish.

The Spanish Grand Prix is another indictment of a team somehow still trying to come to grips with the one area it can fully control: strategy.

In a race where sharp calls made all the difference, Ferrari’s hesitance and poor communication left both drivers fending for themselves — and it took a Safety Car to mask what could have been an underwhelming result.