Ferrari F1 chief tells Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to 'talk less'

Leclerc and Hamilton in front of Monza 2023 crowd — Photo: © IMAGO

Ferrari

Ferrari chief tells Hamilton and Leclerc to 'talk less'

Ferrari had a dismal weekend in Brazil

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 10 November 2025 17:42

Ferrari F1 chairman John Elkann has told Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to 'talk less' after a nightmare Brazilian Grand Prix for the team.

With a maximum of 58 points available to teams in Brazil due to it being a sprint weekend, Ferrari only scored six, and have now been overtaken by both Red Bull and Mercedes in the constructors' championship.

Charles Leclerc's main race was ended on lap seven, when a crash between Oscar Piastri and Kimi Antonelli ended up with the Monegasque driver also getting hit, while seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton's chances of scoring points were ended on lap one when a collision with Franco Colapinto caused damage to his floor.

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Hamilton later also retired from the race on lap 40 having also had to serve a five-second time penalty for the Colapinto incident, and that ensured a point-less grand prix for Ferrari.

Following the race, Elkann spoke to Italian media, and gave a rather damning speech about Ferrari's weekend, while suggesting that Leclerc and Hamilton need to 'talk less' and focus on the fight for second in the constructors' championship.

"Brazil was a huge disappointment," Elkann admitted. "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 pit stops. If we look at our engineers, there's no doubt that the car has improved.

"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."

Using the recent 8 Hours of Bahrain race when Ferrari wrapped up the World Endurance Championship (WEC) title as an example of Ferrari togetherness, Elkann said: "In Bahrain, we won the WEC title. When Ferrari is united, you get results."

Can Ferrari claim second?

Ferrari are now four points behind Red Bull despite the Milton Keynes-based outfit largely fighting with one driver for much of the 2025 season, and Ferrari also find themselves 36 points behind second-place Mercedes.

With three race weekends remaining, Hamilton and Leclerc's performances are going to have to be superb in order for the team to close that gap to a consistent Mercedes team.

Hamilton is yet to score a grand prix podium in 2025 since joining Ferrari, and is sat down in sixth in the drivers' championship.

Leclerc's results have been much better, and he has been able to extract the maximum performance out of the SF-25, but even he is only in fifth in the drivers' standings, 66 points ahead of Hamilton.

The team will be desperate to finish as high up as possible in the 2025 constructors' championship, before attention switches to 2026 where wholesale regulation changes are sweeping into the sport.

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Charles Leclerc John Elkann