The first signs of Ferrari cracks

[Nitrodaze]

When the Ferrari Chairman says to the media that his driver should shut up and concentrate on their driving. My F1 network went wild with tweets. A number of questions were raised. Is Elkan blaming the drivers for their awful season? Or is he tired of hearing the painful facts of endless repeats of operational failure to optimise their weekends? Whatever the case, Elkan has a bizarre notion that the Ferrari team was performing exceptionally; in fact, he put forward the bizarre assertion that they were winning the championship on the performance front.

That very assertion is the main topic of discussion at the moment. We are at the close of the season and none of the Ferrari drivers has won any of the main races this season. And the way things are going, they are looking more likely to finish fourth behind Redbull by the end of the season. So the question is, is Elkan delusional about Ferrari's readiness to win titles? If this is the case, then they are not in the right headspace to get their 2026 campaign preparation right. With this kind of thinking from the top, it only serves to pitch engineers against drivers, and the cooperation and information exchange process would be fraught with tension.

Whichever way you look at it, that was the most ill-advised action taken by Elkan. And the consequences of it shall be very costly in the long run. You have to look at McLaren to see how long it took the team to recover from board meddling. You should also consider Renault/Alpine to see how damaging ill-considered comments from the board can be to team morale and stability.

Elkan did the very worst thing he could have done under the circumstances. You just never criticise the guys at the front line of your course. It's like blaming the tools for doing a bad job.

I genuinely worry for Ferrari's chances in 2026, they are the most unsettled of all the teams all season and heading to the end of the season. I doubt they can produce a great car out of a fractured and emotional team.

I wonder what you think about this.

[Steve Boyd]

I think if I was Lewis, I just might not be bothered turning up to the remaining GP's!

That has to be the most demotivating statement possible for the drivers who are trying to get a car that works to their liking and clearly comes from someone with no clue whatsoever about F1 racing and precious little insight into man-mangaement.

[Nitrodaze]

I think if I was Lewis, I just might not be bothered turning up to the remaining GP's!

That has to be the most demotivating statement possible for the drivers who are trying to get a car that works to their liking and clearly comes from someone with no clue whatsoever about F1 racing and precious little insight into man-mangaement.

I think it is the nightmare statement from Hamilton after the Brazil race that probably angers Elkan to say what he said. With regards to Leclerc, Elkan is way out of line. He has been the one getting the most out of the dogged Ferrari all season. As for Hamilton, it is a formative year of learning the car and working out the kinks in the design of the car. We all expected to see Hamilton improve to the point of winning races, but that has not materialised for many reasons outside his control.

For a start, the SF25 is a dud, it clearly is not good enough to win races. Leclerc is dragging it by the scruff of its neck to the sharp end of the grid, where it does not belong. Hamilton is now on par in performance with Leclerc. If Elkan had considered the realities of the team, he would not have said what he said. It was a very dumb thing to say, and it offends the fans just as much as it would upset the drivers. When a small customer team is outperforming Ferrari with two drivers capable of winning championships; hell , one of them is a seven times world champion; for God's sake, then that is a very clear indication that the issue is not with the drivers but firmly with the engineers Elkan is seeking to protect. If Redbull can turn the issues with their car around, l wonder why the Ferrari engineers could not do the same convincingly. Just look at how revitalized Verstappen is at the mo. Unfortunately, they may have found the fix too late for the driver's championship.

Ferrari would not build a great car without objectivity. The thing about objectivity is that it reveals the painfull truths. It is a painful process. And it takes wisdom, patience and hard work to plough through it to find success. That is what has made McLaren the success we see today.

[Bagwan]

Perhaps both the "nightmare" statement , and the reaction to it might have both been better to have aired in private .