Ferrari president John Elkann has said Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc need to “talk less” and implied the Formula 1 team lacks unity in a surprising criticism after its Brazilian Grand Prix double retirement.
Leclerc was wiped out of the race early on as a consequence of Oscar Piastri and Kimi Antonelli colliding at the first corner when Leclerc was trying to overtake Antonelli on the outside for second place.
Hamilton, meanwhile, retired as a result of car damage picked up early on when he clumsily ran into the back of Franco Colapinto’s Alpine at the end of the opening lap.
Ferrari also had a poor sprint race in Brazil as Leclerc finished fifth and Hamilton seventh.
A meagre return of only six points meant Ferrari dropped from second in the constructors’ championship to fourth, 36 points adrift of Mercedes and six behind Red Bull - which is effectively a one-car team.
That came on the same weekend Ferrari’s sportscar operation, run by AF Corse, won the World Endurance Championship in the same season it triumphed at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Speaking at an event for Milano Cortina 2026, the next Winter Olympics, Ferrari chief Elkann called Brazil a “big disappointment”.
“If we look at the Formula 1 championship we can say that on one hand we have our mechanics, who are basically winning the championship with their performance and everything that has been done on the pitstops,” Elkann said.
“If we look at our engineers, there’s no doubt that the car has improved.
“If we look at the rest, it is not up to par.
“And surely we have drivers for whom it is important that they focus on driving and talk less, because we still have important races ahead of us and getting second place is not impossible.”
Though Ferrari does not have any of the five fastest pitstops of the season, it has been consistently at a high level and does lead the DHL-sponsored F1 standings, well ahead of McLaren and Red Bull.
However, Elkann’s remarks about the car development are questionable, especially given there was no transformation with a major set of in-season floor and rear suspension upgrades to alleviate a critical early problem relating to the ride height the car could run at.
Ferrari has instead fluctuated between second and fourth fastest all season, seemingly dependent on how well the circuit characteristics suit its car and allow it to run low enough to be quick without causing damaging plank wear.
Leclerc has qualified in the top three at the most recent three events, and in Brazil had a good chance of scoring a third podium in a row too.
But this is again just at the top end of what Ferrari has achieved all season - the team has still not been a serious threat for victory, and has a real chance of ending the year without a win.
To bring the drivers into it the way Elkann has, and implicitly question the unity of the F1 team, is especially dramatic.
On the drivers side, Leclerc has been as dependable as ever, yet continues to be undermined by Ferrari failing to give him the necessary machinery to win – and if guilty of anything, has been honest in expressing his frustration with that, plus his emerging concerns about the potential consequences of the 2026 car not being competitive either.
Hamilton, Ferrari’s big-money signing who Elkann has championed, has had good moments including winning the China sprint very early in the season but has admitted his first Ferrari year has been a “nightmare” on-track overall.
It is hard to understand what Elkann wants to achieve with but it is impossible to interpret the message that it is important for the drivers to “focus on driving and talk less” as meaning anything other than they are talking too much right now. So is it a warning to stay in their lane, and that questioning or criticising Ferrari is unhelpful, unappreciated and/or unwelcome? Or is it a message that they are not doing a good enough job?
Perhaps it is both, aimed at each of them in different ways, given the mix of off-track emotion from Leclerc and on-track performance from Hamilton - who has tended to be much more critical of himself than of Ferrari, although has inevitably been dissatisfied by certain things the team has done.
Something about this comment strikes at the heart of what Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has championed for a long time, though. Unity. Whether it’s aimed at the drivers or other parts of the operation, Elkann implied the F1 team is fracturing when he said what happened in the WEC showed “when Ferrari is a team, we win”.
“Winning both as manufacturers and as drivers is a wonderful demonstration that when Ferrari is united, when everyone is together, great things can be achieved,” he said.
That deliberately creates a clear contrast with how Elkann views the F1 team. Whatever his intention here, it is a warning of some kind.
With 2026 approaching and a new car and engine rules era offering Ferrari a huge opportunity, Elkann perhaps believes there can be no excuses not to replicate the WEC success in F1 and is sowing the seeds to react if Ferrari underperforms again - as a collective, or as individuals.
If so, Elkann would do well to remember the scale of the two challenges are order of magnitudes different - and that it is he who has green-lit various changes that have still failed to bring success to F1.
If Ferrari is a team, and is to be united, that starts at the very top. This has been where Ferrari has fallen short many times in the past, so Elkann’s comments echo a concerning past narrative.
