Ferrari chairman John Elkann has advised Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to “focus on driving and talk less” after a nightmare Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The Italian marque came into the weekend at Interlagos buoyed by Leclerc’s podium finish at Mexico seeing it move into second in the Constructors’ Championship.
However, it all unravelled quite spectacularly for the Maranello-based squad in Brazil as the team suffered a shock double DNF during the 71-lap race last Sunday.
After an early Safety Car, the restart saw Oscar Piastri tag Andrea Kimi Antonelli into Turn 1, which flung the W16 into Leclerc’s path – giving him suspension damage.
His team-mate Lewis Hamilton also had an incident with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto on the opening laps, landing the Briton a time penalty and floor damage to his SF-25.
He eventually retired from the race as he struggled to cope with his ailing car.
Hamilton had been quite vocal throughout the weekend about his struggles with Ferrari in his debut season, even dubbing it a “nightmare”.
“It’s a nightmare,” he told Sky Sports F1. “The flip between the dream of driving for this amazing team and then the nightmare of the results that we’ve had.”
Now, with Ferrari having slipped from second to fourth in the span of a single race weekend, Elkann has seemingly pulled the rug of support from under his driver.
Having backed team boss Fred Vasseur last month, he quite abruptly singled out the team’s line-up as the weak link in Ferrari’s quest to end its prolonged drought.
“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,” he said at an event for Milano Cortina 2026.
“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.”
READ MORE – Ferrari reveals extent of Lewis Hamilton damage in F1 Brazil GP
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