The Ferrari chairman John Elkann has said his drivers should talk less and focus on performing after Lewis Hamilton admitted his dream move to Ferrari has become a nightmare.
Elkann’s comments appeared to defend the mechanics and engineers at Ferrari, despite neither driver having registered a victory this season with the car clearly off the pace compared to McLaren and Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.
“Brazil was a huge disappointment,” said Elkann, who still hopes his team can finish second in the constructors’ championship. “If we look at the Formula 1 championship, we can say that our mechanics are winning the championship with their performance and everything they’ve done on the pitstops [leading the standings for the fastest pitstop award]. If we look at our engineers, there’s no doubt that the car has improved.
Elkann says the engineers have improved the car and the mechanics are “winning the championship” but “the rest is not up to par”
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“If we look at the rest, it’s not up to par. And we certainly have drivers who it’s important that they focus on driving and talk less, because we still have important races ahead of us and it’s not impossible to get second place.”
While Hamilton’s comments after Brazil were notable, his team-mate Charles Leclerc has also criticised the potential of the car, repeatedly saying that he has extracted the absolute maximum from the package but been unable to fight for victories. Elkann did not specifically mention Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, whom he publicly backed last month after rumours linking Christian Horner to the team.
Hamilton, 40, joined Ferrari this season with the aim of challenging for world titles. After 21 rounds he is yet to even stand on the podium after a grand prix, his solitary success coming in the sprint race in China (and he was disqualified in the main race that weekend).
He is sixth in the drivers’ championship, 66 points behind fifth-placed Leclerc, who has seven podium finishes.
Hamilton required a pitstop to change the damaged front end of the Ferrari but it could not prevent his eventual retirement in Sao Paulo
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“This is a nightmare, and I have been living it for a while. The flip between the dream of driving for this amazing team and the nightmare of the results we have had, the ups and downs, it’s challenging,” Hamilton told Sky Sports.
“But tomorrow I’ll get back up, I’ll keep training, keep working with the team. We really wanted to get them the points this weekend, but I’ll come back as strong as I can in the next race to repay them.”
For Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix, won by Lando Norris, Hamilton qualified in 13th place, while Leclerc managed third. That left Hamilton in the chaotic mid-grid zone at the start of the race, and he first touched tyres with Carlos Sainz, losing all momentum and dropping to the back of the field, before misjudging a move on Franco Colapinto and clipping the rear end of the Alpine. He received a five-second penalty for the latter, which he served before retiring on lap 39 with significant damage to the front end of his car, and the floor.
“It would be wrong to say there are no positives at all,” Hamilton later told Viaplay. “If you look at Charles’s performance in qualifying, it shows the car does have some pace in it. But we are just really having to fight through those hardships at the moment. I have to believe these hardships lead to… I believe there is something extraordinary up ahead in my life and in my destiny.
It was a disastrous grand prix for Ferrari, with Hamilton’s team-mate, Leclerc, also forced to retire after a collision caused by Oscar Piastri
AMANDA PEROBELLI/REUTERS
“I truly still believe in this team and what we can achieve together. I just have to keep pushing and keep giving them everything I can.”
While it was a difficult weekend for Hamilton in Brazil — where he is an honorary citizen — in one of his favourite races and where he secured the first of his seven world titles in 2008, it was disastrous for Ferrari’s hopes of clinching second place in the constructors’ championship. Leclerc also failed to finish the race, which left Ferrari fourth in the standings.
Next year is make or break for Hamilton but Bearman rumours are untrue
For weeks now, this has been an arduous season which both Hamilton and Ferrari look eager to finish. Hamilton has probably done as much adapting as it is possible to do in this year’s car, while getting used to Ferrari team dynamics and providing feedback on how he believes they can improve. He has struggled, but so too have Ferrari (Molly Hudson writes).
Still, Charles Leclerc is the better qualifier, but that is not necessarily a surprise given many in F1 believe he is the best qualifier on the grid. Next year, alongside the significant regulation changes for both the chassis and engine, Hamilton hopes the car Ferrari design will include some of the “characteristics”, as he describes it, he prefers.
Next year is almost certainly make or break for his hopes of winning an elusive eighth championship — another season like this, for a driver who turns 41 in January, would be beneficial to neither him nor the team.
Ferrari have not officially announced Hamilton’s contract length, but it is likely to be a three-year deal given Hamilton alluded to the fact he usually re-negotiates a year before its expiry, and he had not yet done so.
Bearman earned another point on his licence at the weekend and rumours suggesting he is already lined up to replace Hamilton are untrue
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Most contracts include performance or exit clauses for either the team or driver — realistically, it is understood Hamilton will assess how he performs, and how the car performs, next season before deciding on his long-term future.
Reports that Ferrari have already decided to replace him with Ollie Bearman at the end of the 2026 season are untrue — it is simply too early to have made that decision. The Times understands Ferrari are closely monitoring Bearman’s progress, and feel the decision to place him at Haas, a team where he is able to make mistakes and learn somewhat out of the spotlight, is paying off.
Bearman produced another mature display in the race on Sunday, finishing sixth, after his brilliant fourth in Mexico City. But his rookie mistakes may well come back to haunt him. He accrued another penalty point at the weekend, meaning he is on nine for the 12-month period, after being adjudged to have pushed Liam Lawson onto the grass during the sprint race. Crucially, none of those points will be removed until May next year, forcing Bearman to walk a disciplinary tightrope for months. Reaching 12 points would trigger a one-race ban, the kind of costly penalty he could ill afford at Ferrari.
Bearman has raw speed, and any decision-maker in Formula 1 will explain that is the crucial element which cannot be taught. The consistency Bearman has lacked can be improved, and in a year’s time there is no reason to believe the British driver wouldn’t be ready for a step up to the senior team. Bearman is on a two-plus-one loan deal at Haas, which essentially means Haas and Ferrari will re-assess after the conclusion of the 2026 season.