Ferrari chairman John Elkann’s suggestion that drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc “need to focus on driving and talk less”, and that areas of the team were not up to scratch, has ignited debate around Formula 1’s most famous and most scrutinised team.
Elkann’s comments were made to media in Milan the day after a sobering Sao Paulo Grand Prix for Ferrari saw them slip from second to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, with both of their drivers’ Sundays ended early by retirements due to damage sustained in separate incidents.
Speaking to reporters in a media scrum during an event to promote the 2026 Winter Olympics, Elkann praised the job being done by the team’s engineers and mechanics this season but said that other areas at the Scuderia were “not up to standard”.
Elkann also cited the company’s title success in the World Endurance Championship last week as showing that “when Ferrari is united, you get results”.
Hours after Elkann’s comments had made big F1 headlines around the world, Leclerc and Hamilton posted messages on their respective social media channels, each expressing determination to help the team bounce back from Brazil and end the season strongly.
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Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been warned to ‘talk less and focus on driving’ by Ferrari chairman John Elkann after disastrous Sao Paulo GP weekend.
But what may have lay behind Elkann’s public intervention?
That question proved a topic of discussion on the latest episode of The F1 Show, released to listen to on podcast platforms or watch on YouTube, looking back at the dramatic Sao Paulo Sprint weekend – and everything that has already happened since – with Sky Sports F1’s Simon Lazenby, Bernie Collins and Ted Kravitz.
Listen to the full episode, which includes discussion on Lando Norris’ growing title lead and Oscar Piastri’s Interlagos penalty, in full below:
What was the purpose of Elkann’s remarks?
On Ferrari, Collins and Kravitz were first asked by Lazenby if they thought Elkann’s public rebuke was designed to act as a “spark or a slap”?
Kravitz said: “I think it was more that ‘can we just please focus on not dropping down to fourth in the constructors’ and getting back into second or even third?’
“It’s a mark of how Ferrari are now judging their season as to where they finish in the constructors’. Second would be success. It would be OK, they could rely on that. That’s cold, hard points and data. And they could say that ‘we have the second quickest car, it’s all not so bad. Ok, we didn’t win a race, but it’s all ok.
“But let’s not forget that the people who got Ferrari to second in the constructors’ were Charles and Lewis because they were just plugging in the points. And let’s not forget that this car has a fundamental flaw in it that the Belgium upgrade wasn’t able to correct in terms of the plank and not being able to run the car low and not being able to find a fix around. So it’s the drivers who’ve been getting the points in.”
Ferrari chairman John Elkann made headlines with his remarks on Sunday evening
While he says the drivers have “broad shoulders” to deal with the comments, and Elkann can duly say how he feels given his position as chairman, Kravitz says it’s clear that Hamilton and Leclerc “are thinking about the team”.
“They’re all looking to improve,” he added. “So I don’t know, maybe they caught Elkann at a position where he’d seen a double DNF [the day before]. It’s the worst for a team, nobody likes to see a double DNF – that’s obvious. Whether Elkann will come to think that his comments were a bit strong, I don’t know, but the drivers are clearly [thinking about the team].”
Former F1 strategist Collins added: “Fred [Vasseur]’s making changes, we can see changes within Ferrari happening slowly, let’s say, but the drivers fundamentally want to score as much points as they can. They both want to win.
“Lewis doesn’t want to be the Ferrari driver who’s not had a podium for the longest in his first season, he doesn’t want to not have a [race] win this year. None of those things they want to happen and I can’t believe that they’re such loggerheads within the team that they’re not pushing the team or the engineering forward.
“So I think he was hopefully got at the wrong moment and didn’t quite choose his words as well as he would be used to. It’s a bit like everyone needs to focus on their bit; get their bit to the absolute maximum they can be.”
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Lewis Hamilton was gutted after he suffered damage, an early pit stop, a penalty and early retirement in Brazil.
Nonetheless, Collins says there was no escaping the fact that Interlagos proved a “horrendous weekend for Ferrari”.
She added that avoiding finishing fourth in the standings behind Mercedes, who are fielding one rookie this year, and Red Bull, who are almost totally reliant on Max Verstappen’s points, was imperative for them and their high-profile driver duo.
“When you look at the pairings of the other two teams, Kimi Antonelli hadn’t been doing as well as he would have ideally been doing in the middle section of the year and the second driver for Red Bull [has been] consistently not scoring points,” she said.
“Then Ferrari with two strong drivers, to finish fourth doesn’t look great from a championship point of view. And that’s what they’ll be hoping, as Ted says, that second should be their aim for the season given the pairings of the other two [teams]. But the car has not been up to it.”
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