Ferrari boss John Elkann said Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton needed to “focus on driving and talk less” after their double retirements at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Ferrari dropped to fourth in the constructors’ championship after failing to score in Sunday’s game against Interlagos. They are 36 points behind second place Mercedes. Leclerc was the innocent party in a collision between Monaco’s Oscar Piastri and Kimi Antonelli, who were fighting for second place, but Hamilton was involved in two accidents, the second of which resulted in a time penalty and forced him to retire with extensive damage.
“I was very disappointed against Brazil,” Elkann said. “If you look at the F1 championship, on the one hand you have our mechanics and you can say that they actually win the championship with their performance and all the effort they put in in the pit stops.
“If you look at the engineers, there’s no doubt that the car has improved. If you look at the other parts, it’s not up to par.”
“We do have drivers, but it is important for them to concentrate on driving and not talk too much, because we still have important races ahead of us and second place is not impossible.”
Mr Elkann was speaking at an event for the 2026 Winter Olympics, to be held in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo early next year. His appearance coincided with a weekend in which Ferrari won the World Endurance Championship titles for both drivers and manufacturers, and he suggested that F1 teams were not working perfectly together.
“Winning for both constructors and drivers is great proof that when Ferrari is united and we all work together, we can achieve great things,” Elkann added.
Leclerc appeared to take note of Elkann’s comments in his latest social media post, stressing the need for the team to remain united at this stage of the season.
Leclerc wrote: “It’s disappointing that the team returned home with almost no points at such a critical stage of the season when we were fighting for second place in the constructors’ championship.” “From now on it’s uphill. It’s clear that only unity will help us turn things around in the last race. As always, we’ll give our best.”
