The atmosphere within Scuderia Ferrari, Formula 1's most decorated but often troubled team, is rarely calm, but the close of the 2025 Brazilian Grand Prix ignited a political firestorm that reached the very top of the organization. Following a disastrous double retirement (DNF) at the São Paulo event, Ferrari Chairman John Elkann issued a public and stunning rebuke to his star drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, telling them they must "focus on driving and talk less".
This comment, delivered just days after Hamilton—the seven-time World Champion and Elkann's champion recruit—lamented his debut season as a "nightmare," immediately polarized the F1 paddock and sparked a mass revolt among the passionate Italian fanbase, the Tifosi. The episode highlights a widening chasm between Ferrari's executive expectations and its challenging on-track reality.
The Spark: A Disaster in São Paulo
The 2025 Brazilian Grand Prix proved to be a catastrophic weekend for the Maranello-based squad. Expectations had been high after a strong run of results placed the team in contention for second place in the Constructors' Championship. However, the race quickly unraveled.
Charles Leclerc was an innocent victim in a multi-car collision shortly after a Safety Car restart, leading to suspension damage and forcing his retirement. Teammate Lewis Hamilton, starting 13th, compounded the team's misery by picking up significant floor and wing damage in a clumsy opening-lap clash with Franco Colapinto’s Alpine, an incident for which he also received a penalty. The damage necessitated his retirement on Lap 37, culminating in the team’s shock double DNF and a rapid slide to fourth place in the standings.
In the wake of the loss, Hamilton did not mince words about his challenging season: “This is a nightmare, and I've been living it for a while,” he told reporters. “The flip between the dream of driving for this amazing team and the nightmare of the results we have had... it is challenging”.
The Edict: "Focus on Driving and Talk Less"
Speaking at an event in Milan, Elkann responded to the double failure with a rare, targeted public criticism. While he praised parts of the organization, his focus quickly shifted to the team's most visible members.
"Brazil was a huge disappointment," Elkann stated, before carefully dissecting the team's performance hierarchy. He noted that the mechanics were "basically winning the championship with their performance and everything that has been done on the pit-stops," and that the engineers had "no doubt that the car has improved".
However, the rest, he concluded, was "not up to par." This preamble set the stage for his direct message to the drivers: “And surely we have drivers for whom it is important that they focus on driving and talk less". He emphasized that achieving second place in the championship was "not impossible" with focus on the remaining races.
To underline his point about the Formula 1 team’s disunity, Elkann explicitly compared their struggles to the recent success of Ferrari’s sportscar operation, which had just won the World Endurance Championship (WEC). "When Ferrari is united, when everyone is together, great things can be achieved," he said, implicitly contrasting the WEC success with the perceived fractures in the F1 campaign.
Lewis Hamilton’s Nightmare Season and the Pressure Cooker
The chairman's criticism was widely interpreted as being aimed predominantly at Lewis Hamilton, who had not lived up to the monumental expectations of his debut year at Maranello. The statistics confirm the difficulty of his campaign: as of the Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton had competed in 21 races without achieving a single Grand Prix podium finish. His only success came in the non-Grand Prix format, winning the China Sprint race early in the season. He currently sits sixth in the Drivers' Championship, trailing his teammate Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton has taken an active role in attempting to drive structural change, reportedly compiling and sending detailed documents to key figures, including Elkann, outlining suggestions for organizational and car improvements. The day after Elkann's remarks, Hamilton delivered a pointed reply on social media, posting a defiant message: "I back my team. I back myself. I will not give up. Not now, not then, not ever," a commitment that only intensified the internal spotlight.
The Uprising of the Tifosi: The #ElkannOUT Campaign
If Elkann intended to motivate his team, he achieved a different kind of reaction from the global fanbase. Within hours of the "talk less" statement, Ferrari supporters launched a massive social media protest using the hashtag #ElkannOUT. The campaign quickly went viral across X, Instagram, and Facebook, accumulating over 4.9M engagements.
The protest was notably fueled by the prominent fan account, @FerrariF1FRA, which turned the hashtag into a viral, anti-establishment movement. This account has consistently used the hashtag to respond directly to official Scuderia Ferrari posts on X (formerly Twitter), often "ratioing" the team's original messages with critical punchlines. The nature of this fan uprising is best exemplified by the direct, antagonistic contrast between the team’s motivational messages and the fan's immediate retort:
Talking as one, failing as all 🤝 #ElkannOUT
— Scuderia Ferrari FRA (@FerrariF1FRA) November 13, 2025
The protest messages, which flooded the comment sections of official Scuderia Ferrari posts, called for new leadership and increased accountability at the executive level. Many fans interpreted Elkann’s comments not as a constructive critique, but as an attempt to deflect blame onto the drivers while failing to acknowledge systemic issues within the organization.
With the final three races of the 2025 season—Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi—remaining on the calendar, the pressure on Team Principal Fred Vasseur and the drivers to deliver results is immense. Elkann’s dramatic intervention has heightened the scrutiny on every aspect of the team, ensuring that any future failures will not only be judged on performance but also through the lens of a management crisis now fully laid bare.
Comments
You must be logged in to comment