Lewis Hamilton the target of John Elkann's "talk less" remark: Reports

Ferrari star Lewis Hamilton had a difficult weekend at the Brazilian GP after a subpar qualifying and a DNF in the main race. Ferrari President John Elkann came out on November 11 and made remarks about the Maranello-based team’s drivers during an event. According to the latest reports, Hamilton was the target of Elkann’s remarks.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both retired from the 2025 Brazilian GP. The seven-time champion made contact with Franco Colapinto on the start-finish straight, whereas the Monegasque, on the other hand, was an innocent victim of Oscar Piastri and Kimi Antonelli’s collision.

With a double DNF for Ferrari and both Mercedes drivers finishing in the Top 5, the Italian team lost ground in the fight for P2 in the constructors' championship. Ferrari boss John Elkann came out on Monday, the day after the Brazilian GP, and made remarks about the Scuderia drivers during an event for Milano Cortina 2026.

“If we look at our engineers, there’s no doubt that the car has improved. If we look at the rest, it is not up to par. And surely we have drivers for whom it is important that they focus on driving and talk less, because we still have important races ahead of us and getting second place is not impossible,” said Elkann

However, as per the latest reports from Corriere della Sera, the “talk less” comments by John Elkann were directed towards Lewis Hamilton.

“The honeymoon was already over, but now it seems a falling out despite the multi-year contract. Elkann is disappointed performance wise, certain attitudes, mistakes and lost chances,” read the report

The seven-time F1 champion has had a difficult debut season with Ferrari, as he's failed to score a podium yet with just three races remaining, and also got the unwanted record of being the Scuderia driver with the most race starts and not scoring a podium.

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Lewis Hamilton reflects on a difficult race weekend in Brazil

Lewis Hamilton failed to make the SQ3 session in the sprint qualifying and started the race outside the Top 10 and just finished inside the points. The Briton was eliminated in Q2 after complaining about the rear tire temperatures throughout the session.

The seven-time champion’s main race was ruined by the lap 1 collision as his car sustained a massive loss of downforce from the damage. Reflecting on the weekend, Hamilton took to Instagram, as the caption of his post read,

“Brazil. Thank you for all the love, always. In the end, it wasn't the race we wanted. It's gutting, especially after some good progress, but we will move on. I back my team. I back myself. I will not give up. Not now, not then, not ever.”

The post was shared just a few hours after John Elkann made the “talk less” remarks.

Edited by Pranay Bhagi