Lewis Hamilton has addressed Ferrari chairman John Elkann’s comments that he and teammate Charles Leclerc should ‘talk less’.
The 2025 Formula One season will enter into a dramatic finale with three back to back race weekends as the Las Vegas Grand Prix gets underway on Sunday.
For Ferrari star Hamilton, Vegas and the upcoming Grand Prix in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will offer him the last chance to ensure that 2025 isn’t the first season of his career without him securing at least one podium finish.
After his shock move from Mercedes at the beginning of the season, many expected that Hamilton would shine at Ferrari, but this has not been the case, leading to chairman Elkann making controversial comments about the Brit in a media interview.
And now, Hamilton has provided an official response to the Ferrari boss ahead of the race in Las Vegas.
Lewis Hamilton is having a difficult season with Ferrari. (Image: Kym Illman/Getty Images)
Following a disastrous Brazilian Grand Prix that saw both Ferrari cars failed to finish a Grand Prix for the second time this season, Elkann didn’t hold back in a surprisingly critical outburst.
“Brazil was a huge disappointment. In Formula 1, we have mechanics who are always first in making pit stops. The engineers work to improve the car. The rest is not up to par,” 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.”
Shortly after, it appeared that both Hamilton and Leclerc had subtly reacted to the comments with posts on social media, but the Brit has now confirmed that this is not the case, and that he and Elkann remain close.
“It wasn’t reaction actually,” he told the media. “I hadn’t even seen it, and I posted and I was flying.
“It’s when I got home and I heard about it so it wasn’t a reaction to it all. That as from the weekend.
“John and I, we speak almost every week so we have a great relationship,” he “I didn’t have a reaction to it. I don’t really look into those things too much.”
Elkann’s comments about Hamilton and Leclerc did not go down well. (Image: Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Ciancaphoto Studio/Getty Images )
However, Hamilton joked that he would be more than happy to take Elkann’s advice of taking on and do less media interviews and press conferences for the remainder of the season.
“I mean, I’m always willing to do less media,” he quipped. “But no, seriously, I think we all need to take responsibility in this team, and we all need to play our part.
“And I know that there’s so much passion in this team, every single member of this team, I’m incredibly grateful for the extraordinary effort every single person back at the factory continues to put in week on week.
“And naturally, knowing that the team is Ferrari, there’s always a huge amount of attention, and not always in the positive way.
“But we’re all fully committed to turning this around, and I’m fully committed to helping this team rebuild and grow, and every challenge is an opportunity for us to grow and learn, and I firmly believe that we will get to where we want to be.”
