F1 legend Lewis Hamilton denies bitter Ferrari rift after chairman's comments

Lewis Hamilton talks into a mic — Photo: © IMAGO

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Lewis Hamilton denies bitter Ferrari rift after chairman's comments

Lewis Hamilton has addressed Elkann's comments

Originally written by Sheona Mountford. This version is a translation.

Friday 21 November 2025 19:06

Lewis Hamilton has broken his silence on the media storm growing around comments made by Ferrari chairman John Elkann.

Elkann had spoken to the media after yet another disappointing weekend for the team at the Brazilian Grand Prix, when both Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc were caught up in accidents.

“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," he said.

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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."

Hamilton and Ferrari united after recent controversy

In fact, Hamilton claimed his relationship with Elkann was ‘amazing’ and hailed his passion for Ferrari, presenting a unified team.

“We’ve just been focused on doing our job back at the factory, so everyone’s super-focused on improving,” Hamilton explained.

“I mean I speak to John every week. We have an amazing relationship. The passion has not disappeared from our team. We’ve obviously got a steep hill to climb, but we want to finish off strong this year.”

When one reporter claimed that Elkann’s comments were evidence of blame culture at Ferrari, Hamilton gave his verdict on what the atmosphere was like within the team.

“I mean I don’t feel like there’s a blame culture here, I think look, we’re all in the same boat,” the seven-time world champion added.

“Ultimately we all have to take accountability and responsibility, absolutely all of us, and every single one of us have to play our part.”

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