Spiraling Ferrari unfairly points finger at Hamilton, Leclerc

Ferrari chairman John Elkann's decision to throw his drivers under the bus on Monday was a microcosm of everything that has haunted the company's storied Formula 1 team during its 17-year title drought.

Elkann's remarkable criticism of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc followed their double DNF at the S�o Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday, the same day Ferrari ended a 53-year wait for a sports car title by winning the World Endurance Championship, the series famous for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It served as a stark contrast: sports car glory as the F1 team hurtles toward its third winless season of the 2020s.

"Brazil was a huge disappointment," Elkann said. "If we look at the Formula 1 championship, we can say that on one hand, we have our mechanics, who actually 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. We certainly have drivers, for whom 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 [in the constructors' championship]."

He later added: "When Ferrari is a team, we win ... To win both as a constructor and as drivers [in WEC] is a beautiful demonstration that when Ferrari is united, when everyone is together, you can achieve great things."

A Ferrari spokesperson told ESPN the comments were meant to be "constructive" and the chairman's way of spurring everyone on. To anyone outside the team bubble, that's a fairly charitable interpretation of what Elkann said publicly.

It was a statement that smacked of either insecurity or arrogance (or a horrible combination of both) from a man leading a company that has not won an F1 drivers' championship since 2007 or a constructors' championship since 2008. His words revealed the same misguided interference from above that plagued the outfit both before and after the glory days of Michael Schumacher.

It's you, you're the problem, it's you

It was telling that not long after Elkann's comments were reported by the media, both drivers posted to social media. Leclerc stressed the need for "unity" at Ferrari if it is to step up and win in future. Hamilton, meanwhile, signed off from a difficult weekend in Brazil with, "I back my team, I back myself."

Elkann's statements have raised further questions. Should either driver vent about the car in future, are they openly defying Elkann and destroying attempts at unity behind the scenes? Is the team's current situation acceptable for Ferrari? And, more broadly speaking, does Elkann actually understand the differences in building a successful Formula 1 program and a WEC outfit?

There is little room for interpretation in the statement beyond Elkann telling his drivers that their complaints about the team's uncompetitiveness are invalid. Ferrari has long been known as a place where uncompetitive seasons lead to finger pointing, and his finger is pointed in one direction and one direction only: "If we look at the rest" does not leave a lot left over once you exclude engineers and mechanics. Perhaps it was also a pointed dig at team boss Frdric Vasseur, although Elkann handed the Frenchman a new contract earlier this year.

His reference to the mechanics winning pit stops is likely a nod to the DHL award given to the fastest crew, and Ferrari's team has established itself as one of the best on the grid. The lightning-fast stops have become a crucial ingredient to success in modern F1, but talking it up in such a way during a winless season is like bragging to your neighbors about a new big-screen TV when your house doesn't have a roof.

Then there was the reference to progress, "no doubt the car has improved." With respect to Ferrari's chairman, there is plenty of doubt. That line was probably the most eyebrow raising of the whole thing.

While Red Bull and Mercedes both have managed multiple victories in a season otherwise dominated by McLaren, Ferrari has not. Red Bull made clear progress at the Italian Grand Prix with the upgrade that helped Max Verstappen propel himself back into title contention. Ferrari has not made a single step like that, or anything close to it, in 2025. It's form has fluctuated track to track. The team has struggled to get a handle on technical things like the ride height of the car, something that Hamilton in particular has appeared to struggle with.

Hamilton's sprint pole and victory in China and Leclerc's seven podium finishes and two pole positions are all the team has to show for its efforts this season. It's fair to wonder what this car would have achieved if it was not in the hands of two of the grid's brightest talents.

Both drivers have been clearly agitated about Ferrari's performance in 2025. The Italian media's perception is that Leclerc has dipped his toe into critical waters more than ever before. Given the fact the Italian press often operates in tandem with Ferrari, that viewpoint is not insignificant, and suggests frustration has been festering under the surface.

Leclerc's displeasure would be easy to justify: Last year, Ferrari was one overtake away from beating McLaren to the constructors' championship, and came into this season rightfully expecting that level of competitiveness to continue. Considering the two teams went into last offseason on equal footing, McLaren's dominant year should be an embarrassment to everyone in Maranello.

"Coming from a year like last year, when you were fighting for the world constructors' championship, and then you come here with high expectations but falls short of them from the beginning, and you don't even see progression, it's not easy," Leclerc said ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix last month.

Comments like that fueled the rumors of the past few months, that Leclerc and agent Nicolas Todt are considering life after Ferrari if the team is not competitive under the new rules in 2026. Given his talent, Leclerc would be foolish not to explore contingency plans. While Hamilton claimed the sprint win in China, Ferrari's best results otherwise have come from Leclerc -- his seven podiums probably would have been eight had he not been collected in Oscar Piastri's collision with Kimi Antonelli on Sunday. Leclerc's longevity with the team and his unquestionable loyalty to Ferrari should have earned him a degree of flexibility on when he can and cannot criticize the team.

Perhaps nothing could signify just how dramatically Ferrari has failed than if academy graduate Leclerc -- dubbed "Il Predestinato" ("The Predestined One") by the Italian media -- were to leave the team to win a championship elsewhere. Ferrari's focus should be on providing him a car capable of doing that rather than telling him to stop asking for one.

Drivers being told to reign it in is nothing new. Alain Prost was effectively sacked on the spot in 1991 for comparing his uncompetitive Ferrari to a truck. That code of silence has reared its head in more recent times, too. Parallels between Elkann's latest statement can be drawn to how Sebastian Vettel was dressed down by then-team boss Maurizio Arrivabene in 2016 for what was perceived to be an overstepping of the mark and comments deemed too critical during a winless season.

Beyond Leclerc is Hamilton. Clearly he and Ferrari have not clicked in the way either side hoped. There can be no doubting Hamilton's sincerity when he talks about his love for the Italian marque; he regularly mentions that he still occasionally feels giddy excitement looking at himself in the mirror in red overalls adorned with the Prancing Horse logo. Vettel used to feel similarly, and it was his desperation to say he won a world championship with Ferrari that caused him to push for changes behind the scenes. Hamilton has already tried this. Earlier this year he spoke about writing extensive notes for the team about where he felt they were falling short, effectively his audit of the race operation and the areas it could improve.

Hamilton's viewpoint is not insignificant. Regardless of whether you agree he is the sport's greatest ever driver, he is its winningest in terms of grands prix and shares the record for most titles with Schumacher. Since his debut in 2007, Hamilton has seen it all: great seasons, good seasons, bad seasons, teams that lost their way under new regulations, the latter days of the Ron Dennis-McLaren era and how Mercedes built the dynasty that dominated the 2010s. You would be hard pressed to find better driver feedback on how to fix and run a Formula 1 team.

Yet sources with good knowledge of the inner workings of Ferrari have suggested Hamilton's notes received a mixed reaction -- while welcomed in some quarters, others resented his input. Dismissing the feedback of one of the sport's greatest drivers should say all you need to know about the mindsets deep in the heart of the Ferrari factory.

That's not to excuse the drivers completely. Hamilton, in particular, has performed well below the expectations -- his own as well as everyone else's -- that accompanied his move at the start of the year. Last weekend, he likened his current struggles to get anything out of the car to a "living nightmare," and during a chastening Hungarian Grand Prix, he suggested he was "useless" and that Ferrari should consider changing drivers.

It's not like he's underperforming in a car or a team that seems ready to claim a world championship, though. The problems extend far beyond him.

Finally, there was the pointed reference Elkann made to WEC. While no doubt an impressive achievement, there should be caveats here when comparing to the Formula 1 team. WEC's hypercar formula was predicated on luring the likes of Ferrari back to the table, and the series has a controversial "balance of performance" system designed to help new entrants like Ferrari win, as they have done. A cynic might suggest that what Elkann was actually saying was that the conditions Ferrari need to win are not simply unity, but a playing field skewed in their favor, as is currently the case in WEC.