Ferrari · QUICK TAKE
Ferrari are scoring but not winning, and the gap is growing
Five rounds in, Ferrari sit 72 points behind Mercedes in the constructors' standings with no wins and a consistency problem that is mostly Leclerc's.
The gap that matters most in Ferrari’s 2026 season is not the one between their two drivers. It is the 72-point deficit to Mercedes in the constructors’ standings, and five rounds in, there is no obvious mechanism for closing it. Mercedes have won every race. Ferrari have won none.
That is the headline figure, and it is stark enough. But the more revealing story sits just underneath it, in how Ferrari’s two drivers have contributed to that 147-point constructors’ total, and where the points have been left on the table.
Hamilton has been the steadier of the two. His round-by-round finishes read 4th, 3rd, 6th, 6th, 2nd: a sequence that shows a driver finding his level in an unfamiliar car, with the Canada result his best yet. Starting from 5th in Montreal and finishing 2nd, he recovered ground in a race where Russell retired from pole. His 72 points put him 4th in the drivers’ standings, three points behind Leclerc, and only 16 points behind Russell in 2nd. That is not the gap of a driver being left behind; it is the gap of a driver who has not yet had the clean run he needs at the front.
Leclerc, by contrast, has had peaks and a significant valley. He opened with a 3rd in Australia and backed it up with another 3rd in Japan, both times converting solid grid slots into the maximum Ferrari could reasonably expect on pace. His 75 points keep him 3rd in the drivers’ standings. But Miami is where the season’s story bends. He qualified 3rd and finished 8th, a result that cost Ferrari around 11 points relative to a clean race in that position. In a season where every point is load-bearing, that kind of Sunday is difficult to absorb.
The broader context makes Ferrari’s situation look even tighter. Antonelli has been the dominant force of the season, winning four of five races and leading the drivers’ standings on 131 points. Russell, despite a retirement in Canada, has 88 points from a single win and consistent top-4 finishes. That pairing is delivering for Mercedes in a way that Ferrari’s cannot yet match: both Mercedes drivers are converting, both are scoring heavily, and the constructors’ total of 219 points reflects that depth.
Ferrari’s 147 is not a disaster in isolation. It is more than McLaren’s 106, and Ferrari hold a clear second in the constructors’ standings. But second is a different proposition when it is 72 points off the lead with both Mercedes drivers still scoring at will.
The underlying pace picture is more ambiguous. Leclerc’s podium finishes in Australia and Japan suggest the Ferrari is capable of finishing on the rostrum when everything goes cleanly. Hamilton’s Canada result, 2nd from 5th on the grid, is a reminder that the car is not simply outpaced everywhere. What Ferrari have not done is put both drivers in the top 3 on the same afternoon. Their best combined round was Australia, where they took 3rd and 4th: useful points, but still 25 behind a Mercedes 1-2.
The question for the next stretch of the season is whether Leclerc’s floor is as low as Miami suggested, or whether that was an outlier. If he can string together the kind of consistency Hamilton has shown, Ferrari’s constructors’ total grows meaningfully. If Miami is a recurring pattern rather than an anomaly, the gap to Mercedes will widen faster than it closes.
There is also the matter of wins. Five races, five Mercedes victories. Ferrari’s best individual result is Hamilton’s 2nd in Canada. A team cannot overhaul a 72-point deficit by finishing 2nd and 3rd every week; at some point they need to beat Antonelli outright. On current evidence there is no obvious race where that happens soon, though Canada showed the window can open when Russell falls out of contention.
The season is still young enough that Ferrari can argue they are in the fight. The arithmetic is not yet punishing. But the trajectory is: Mercedes are pulling, Ferrari are following, and the gap has not shrunk in five rounds. For a team that entered 2026 with genuine championship ambitions, following is not enough.
Ferrari need a win, not just more consistent scoring, and they need one before the deficit becomes a different conversation.