Lewis Hamilton has denied that a social media post published after the Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix was in response to critical remarks from Ferrari chairman John Elkann.
The Scuderia chief spoke positively about the team’s mechanics and engineers, but stated “the rest is not up to par”.
Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc then took to their social channels to publish posts in support of the team and of their focus and drive on improving its current situation.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, Leclerc denied that his post was an aside to Elkann’s comments, the Monegasque saying his and Elkann’s aims were “aligned”.
Hamilton likewise made a similar denial, and revealed that, like Leclerc, speaks to Elkann on a regular basis.
“John and I, we speak almost every week so we have a great relationship,” he told the media including Motorsport Week.
“I didn’t have a reaction to it. I don’t really look into those things too much.”
Elkann also stated that Hamilton and Leclerc should “talk less”, which, when prompted, was met by a joke from the seven-time World Champion.
“I mean, I’m always willing to do less media,” he quipped. “But no, seriously, I think we all need to take responsibility in this team, and we all need to play our part.
“And I know that there’s so much passion in this team, every single member of this team, I’m incredibly grateful for the extraordinary effort every single person back at the factory continues to put in week on week.
“And naturally, knowing that the team is Ferrari, there’s always a huge amount of attention, and not always in the positive way.
“But we’re all fully committed to turning this around, and I’m fully committed to helping this team rebuild and grow, and every challenge is an opportunity for us to grow and learn, and I firmly believe that we will get to where we want to be.”
Hamilton stated that, in fact, he had not even seen Elkann’s comments until after his social media post, and that the timing was a complete coincidence.
“It wasn’t reaction actually,” he addressed. “I hadn’t even seen it, and I posted and I was flying.
“It’s when I got home and I heard about it so it wasn’t a reaction to it all. That as from the weekend.”
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