John Elkann's comments are outrageous, but Lewis Hamilton is not blameless

Ferrari chairman John Elkann's pointed remarks to the drivers might signal the team is starting to lose patience with Lewis Hamilton. In a move that shocked quite a few people, Elkann has openly remarked that the drivers need to 'focus on driving, and talk less'.

While John Elkann did not specify which driver the comment was about, it has since been reported that the remarks were aimed at Lewis Hamilton. The partnership was signed amid much fanfare in 2024 when the 7x F1 champion announced he was leaving Mercedes.

At the start of 2025, Lewis Hamilton was treated with great love by the Tifosi when he first made his way to Maranello. 21 races into the season, it's safe to say that things have not gone the way he would have hoped.

He even admitted the same in a post-Brazilian GP media scrum, where he termed the first season as a 'nightmare.' The comments from John Elkann have not received a positive response, and rightly so.

The root of Ferrari's problems is not the drivers. However, the outburst was also the first sign of the team running out of patience with its star signing.

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The context

Before we get into the merits and demerits of the remarks, it's important to understand the context in which the remarks were made. Over the past weekend, Ferrari sealed WEC in a moment of another triumph for the Italian giant's Endurance Program. Couple that with the Le Mans 24-hour win this year, and you have a very successful operation.

Then came F1, where Ferrari dropped down to P4 in the championship. If the team finishes in this position, it would be the worst finish in the ground-effect era.

To add to this, Lewis Hamilton had a shambolic race weekend in Brazil. The British driver had a decent run in the sprint but followed it up with a poor qualifying session and race performance.

He was eliminated in Q2, while teammate Charles Leclerc put the car in P3. In the race, Hamilton made contact with Sainz in T1, which was followed by the driver damaging his front wing by running into the back of Franco Colapinto's Alpine.

His race was pretty much over at that point, and he ended up suffering a DNF.

In essence, while the Endurance Racing program is thriving, John Elkann's biggest signing in F1 underperformed once again as the Formula 1 operation had another disastrous weekend.

Following this, Elkann said:

"We have drivers who it is important that they concentrate on driving, that they talk less, and that we have important races ahead of us, and it is not impossible to get second place. This is the most important message that comes from Bahrain - when Ferrari is a team, we win."

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Lewis Hamilton's performance has been below par

Looking back at Lewis Hamilton's run at Ferrari, there's no way anyone can say that the driver's performances have been at an acceptable level. There are mitigating factors for sure. He's switched teams for the first time in more than a decade.

Ferrari is a completely different beast compared to any other entity on the grid. To add to this, in Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton has such a daunting task to overcome anyway.

That said, when the driver was brought to the team, he wasn't hired to be the second driver. He was hired to be the team leader.

Looking at different numbers this season, they show how horribly one-sided the battle has been. Leclerc has one pole position to his name; Hamilton has none. The younger driver has seven podiums that potentially could have been more, and the veteran has none. Finally, while Charles Leclerc has 214 points, Hamilton has only 148.

In the 21-race campaign the Brit has executed to date, except for the race in Silverstone, it would be hard to find any other event where he was the faster and better driver over a race weekend.

Ferrari did not bring the 7x F1 champion to end up in such a position, and that's certainly something someone like John Elkann would not be happy about.

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Lewis Hamilton's consistent push behind the scenes

Lewis Hamilton is a demanding driver in many aspects. He expects nothing but the best from the team, and with a decade of F1-winning experience, the driver knows what key details are needed to win in the sport.

As has been the case with him in the past, the driver has been vocal about the need for things to change within the team. He's talked about sending multiple notes and documents to even the senior management on what needs to change. For a team that has been working a certain way all this time, that level of change is not easy to accept, and it can lead to some resistance - the kind that has led to reports of insiders not being too happy with the driver's comments.

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One cannot have the same authority if the performances don't add up

Now, this is where the problem comes in. Lewis Hamilton joined the team with a certain level of authority that his name carried. He was the 7x F1 champion who had just moved from Mercedes. He knew how to win in F1, so his comments were taken seriously as he acclimated to the car and team.

Unfortunately for the driver, as the year has progressed and he's been unable to do the kind of job expected of him, the authority has been slipping. As a result, the complaints/remarks/suggestions that were more than welcome at the start of the year are now meeting some resistance within the team, especially since the driver has been unable to keep his end of the bargain.

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The emergence of Ollie Bearman

Ferrari has a young, bright star waiting in the wings in Ollie Bearman. The British driver has already been impressive in his rookie year, but more than that, the last three races have seen him make a step that has started to turn heads.

What's damning is the comparison between Lewis Hamilton and the youngster in the last three races. Bearman has scored 22 points in the previous three races while driving a Haas, compared to 23 for Hamilton in a Ferrari.

These numbers don't paint a bright picture, especially if you've broken the bank to bring a driver to your team and he's not producing the results you expect.

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Let's talk about John Elkann's comments

The way John Elkann has gone about it - targeting his drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in the media - is just not how you get anything productive done. If Ferrari is serious about ending its championship drought, it needs to realize that the drivers have never been the reason behind the team's lack of success.

Since 2008, here's the list of drivers who have been a part of Ferrari:

• Felipe Massa
• Kimi Raikkonen
• Fernando Alonso
• Sebastian Vettel
• Charles Leclerc
• Lewis Hamilton

Give any of these drivers the right car and the right support, and you have a title. The fact that Ferrari has been unable to do so for a while is not because of the driver, but because the team as a package is not good enough to win titles.

In fairness, even Ferrari's former lineup of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc was good enough to win the title in the right car. John Elkann, however, has interrupted the balance by breaking the bank and bringing in Lewis Hamilton.

At this stage, the team is not only dysfunctional but also has an underperforming driver who, according to some reports, is being paid more than twice what the team's lead driver (Charles Leclerc) is being paid.

At this stage, it makes no sense to panic and create further disturbance within the team. Ferrari needs to understand that while Lewis Hamilton as a driver might not be performing at the highest level, his expertise in winning multiple championships is worth leveraging.

Unfortunately, the way the Italian team works, it's doubtful that we'll see a course correction, as another high-profile driver signing might end up biting the dust.

Edited by Riddhiman Sarkar