Nico Rosberg has never been one to hold back. The 2016 Formula 1 world champion has once again pointed out Ferrari’s Achilles’ heel after a messy Spanish Grand Prix weekend. According to Rosberg, the Maranello outfit’s main issue isn’t car pace, but strategy and communications—areas that have long been a weakness.
The race at the Madring circuit in Madrid was far from ideal for Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc missed out on pole position and couldn’t mount a challenge for victory. Hamilton’s race ended prematurely on lap seven due to a braking system failure on his SF-26, just as he was running third.
Leclerc, meanwhile, led 32 of the 57 laps. Ferrari tried an offset strategy, keeping the Monegasque out longer in hopes of a late safety car that could give him a shot at an unlikely win. But the gamble didn’t pay off. Leclerc eventually pitted on lap 48 and had to settle for fourth place.
Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Show podcast, Rosberg didn’t mince words. “Isn’t it the case that Ferrari always have messy weekends? It’s just the Achilles heel is still in the strategy area, communications area, that’s always been a weakness and still is a weakness of theirs now,” he said.
Rosberg added that the car’s pace is actually close to being able to challenge for wins consistently. “The pace of the car is damn close to being able to challenge consistently for race wins, and even this weekend, Lewis would have been a comfortable second position in the race on Sunday. He would have finished second after Max had to let him through. So he would have definitely finished second place behind Kimi, quite easily,” he explained.
Hamilton felt Ferrari “had the car to fight for a win” in Spain, while Leclerc insisted the team “did the right thing” with its strategy, even though another opportunity slipped away. The Monegasque believes Ferrari “paid the price” for its qualifying form, a persistent issue throughout the 2026 season.
“I really don't think we are worse than the others,” Leclerc said. “I just think that, generally, our car is just a little bit weaker in qualifying than it is in the race with lower fuel. When you've got to really attack the kerbs, particularly yesterday, McLaren was very, very strong, and we were a bit on the wrong side of things on that. So, we paid the price this weekend, probably because of this. But as a whole, I always feel like we are a bit on the back foot in quali.”
With pace now within reach, Ferrari face a crucial task to fix their strategy and internal communication. If not, messy weekends like Madrid will keep recurring, and their championship hopes will continue to fade.
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