Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc issue Ferrari rallying cries ahead of final races after John Elkann remarks

Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton underline their determination to help the team finish the season strongly after Sao Paulo GP retirements saw them drop to fourth in constructors’ standings; Ferrari chairman John Elkann earlier issued plea to drivers ahead of final races

Lewis Hamilton said he will not give up, while Charles Leclerc stressed the importance of “unity” at Ferrari, as the Scuderia’s drivers each issued rallying cries ahead of the team’s crunch end to the 2025 season.

The Ferrari team-mates’ posts on Monday evening came hours after Ferrari chairman John Elkann, their ultimate boss at the famous Italian marque, said it was important that the drivers “focus on driving and talk less” in order to help the team finish the season strongly after they dropped from second to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Elkann’s remarks came in an interview in which he praised the team’s mechanics and engineers, while also notably drawing reference to the company’s title-winning exploits in the World Endurance Championship – crowns they clinched in Bahrain last Saturday – by saying the achievement showed “when Ferrari is united, you get results”.

It is common for both Hamilton and Leclerc to post reflections on the race weekend just gone on their respective social media accounts the day after a race, but their messages on Monday night appeared to carry extra significance.

Leclerc was the first to post, with his comments echoing Elkann’s sentiment about unity.

“A very difficult weekend in Sao Paulo,” he wrote on X.

“Disappointing to come back home with nearly no points at all for the team in what is a critical moment of the season to fight for the second place in the constructors’ championship.

“It’s uphill from now and it’s clear that only unity can help us turn that situation around in the last three races. We’ll give it all, as always.”

Hamilton, who had said after retiring from Sunday’s race that he was living a “nightmare” with the lack of results in his difficult first season at Ferrari, wrote on Instagram: “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.”

Ferrari registered their second double DNF of the season at Interlagos with Leclerc and Hamilton sustaining damage in separate early-race incidents.

Leclerc was knocked out of the running on the sixth lap when in running third after contact between Oscar Piastri and Kimi Antonelli sent the latter’s Mercedes into his Ferrari, while Hamilton eventually dropped out due to damage sustained from him tagging the back of Franco Colapinto’s Alpine on the first lap.

The costly no-score meant Ferrari slipped 36 points behind Mercedes and four points behind Red Bull in the fight for second in the lucrative teams’ standings with three race weekends to go.

Ferrari – who finished just 14 points behind champions McLaren in second place last season but have scored less than half their Woking rivals’ total this term – have only finished outside the top three in the standings three times (2020, 2014, 2009) in the last 31 campaigns.

They are also now in acute danger of recording their first winless year since 2021 with only the Grand Prix in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi to go. Leclerc has twice finished runner-up in seven visits to the podium this season.