Ferrari president John Elkann issued a plea on Monday to the misfiring team’s two drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, calling on them to focus on driving, not talking.
Elkann’s intervention follows a disastrous weekend for the Formula 1 giants when both cars failed to finish the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The wretched double DNF prompted seven-time world champion Hamilton to reflect on “a nightmare” first season at the Scuderia.
Hamilton was retired by the team after battling for 40 laps in a damaged car following several incidents in the opening laps and a penalty, while Leclerc’s race ended on lap six following a collision in which he was an innocent victim.
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“It’s a nightmare,” said Hamilton at Interlagos.
“I’ve been living it now for a while and the flip between living the dream of driving for this amazing team and then the nightmare of the results that we’ve had,” added the former Mercedes driver.
Elkann said he wanted Hamilton and Leclerc to concentrate on the three race weekends remaining of an underwhelming 2025 season.
“It is certainly important that our drivers focus on their driving and talk less,” Elkann said.
“There are still important races left, and it is not impossible to achieve second place (in the constructors’ standings),” he added in comments reported by the AGI Agency at a sponsorship event for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
He pointed to Ferrari’s success in claiming the world endurance championship crown, saying “it is the demonstration that when Ferrari is a team, we win”.
“We need drivers who do not think about themselves, but who think about Ferrari,” he added pointedly.
Ferrari left Brazil after slipping from second to fourth in the constructors’ title race, and will be looking for a change of luck in the next race in Las Vegas.
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