Abstract This paper proposes a filtered Smith predictor (FSP) delay compensation strategy for model predictive control (MPC) robustness improvement. The intrinsic MPC delay compensation is analyzed for a class of systems with a common input-delay to show that robustness can be enhanced by using a different predictor structure. Moreover, FSP robust compensation scheme is applied in a tube based MPC strategy in order to guarantee robust stability. Finally, a simulation example is presented to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed approach.