Ferrari President Elkann: “It’s important for our drivers to focus on the team and talk less”

Ferrari President John Elkann said it was important for the Italian team’s drivers to focus on driving and talk less in order to continue fighting for second place in the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship.

On Sunday, the São Paulo Grand Prix race ended with a double retirement for Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton lost several positions on the first lap due to contact with Carlos Sainz’s Williams car, and later got into another incident, crashing into the rear of Franco Colapinto’s car (Alpin). After 37 laps, a penalty and several pit stops, the team decided to withdraw Hamilton’s car from the race due to mechanical damage. Charles Leclerc’s car was damaged at the restart of the race when Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) crashed into it.

— The stage in Brazil was a big disappointment. If you look at the Formula 1 championship, you can say that we have mechanics who do their job well in the pit stop. If you look at our engineers, there is no doubt that the car has improved. The rest is not up to par. It is important for our drivers to focus on Ferrari and talk less because there are important races ahead. Taking second place in the constructors’ standings is not impossible, Sky Sport quotes Elkann as saying.

After the disastrous race, Hamilton clarified that he has been “living in a nightmare” lately, and the team’s results “leave much to be desired.”

Following the results of the 21st stage of the Formula 1 championship, the Ferrari team takes fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, scoring 362 points. McLaren won ahead of schedule during the season and leads the standings with 756 points, Mercedes is second (398), and Red Bull is third (366).

The next stage will take place in Las Vegas on November 20–22.