Ted Kravitz leaps to Lewis Hamilton's defence in Ferrari turmoil

Sky Sports F1 pundit Ted Kravitz has joined those who have defended Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc after John Elkann’s controversial comments.

The Ferrari chairman spoke to the media after a double DNF for Hamilton and Leclerc at the Brazilian Grand Prix, where he praised the engineers and mechanics at the team but decided to disparage his two drivers.

"If we look at our engineers, the car has undoubtedly improved. If we look at the rest, it's not up to standard," he said at an event ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

"We have drivers who need to focus more and talk less, because we still have important races to come, and finishing second in the constructors isn't impossible."

Both Hamilton and Leclerc released social media statements confirming their commitment to Ferrari and the team, while fans and pundits have leapt to the defence of the drivers in the subsequent days.

Amongst these defending Hamilton and Leclerc were Jenson Button and Karun Chandhok, with Sky’s Ted Kravitz offering lengthier analysis on Elkann’s comments during an appearance on the Sky Sports F1 Show podcast.

Kravitz analyses Elkann drama at Ferrari

When asked by host Simon Lazenby if Elkann's comments were designed to act as a ‘spark or a slap’, Kravitz explained: "I think it was more that 'can we just please focus on not dropping down to fourth in the constructors' and getting back into second or even third?'

"It's a mark of how Ferrari are now judging their season as to where they finish in the constructors'. Second would be success. It would be ok, they could rely on that. That's cold, hard points and data. And they could say that 'we have the second quickest car, it's all not so bad. Ok, we didn't win a race, but it's all ok.'

"But let's not forget that the people who got Ferrari to second in the constructors' were Charles and Lewis because they were just plugging in the points. And let's not forget that this car has a fundamental flaw in it that the Belgium upgrade wasn't able to correct in terms of the plank and not being able to run the car low and not being able to find a fix around. So it's the drivers who've been getting the points in.

"They're all looking to improve. So I don't know, maybe they caught Elkann at a position where he'd seen a double DNF. It's the worst for a team, nobody likes to see a double DNF - that's obvious. Whether Elkann will come to think that his comments were a bit strong, I don't know, but the drivers are clearly [thinking about the team]."

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