Lewis Hamilton’s ‘reaction’ to Ferrari president’s ‘not up to par’ comment

Lewis Hamilton has denied that his social media post just hours after John Elkann’s “not up to par” comment was in response to it, as he wasn’t even aware that the president had spoken.

Elkann launched a surprising broadside on his Ferrari drivers last week when he declared they should “focus on driving” and “talk less”.

Lewis Hamilton: I don’t really look into those things too much

His comments came in the wake of a mixed Sunday for Ferrari as the F1 squad failed to follow up the marque’s World Endurance Championship double-title success.

It was anything but a good day for the Scuderia at the Interlagos circuit, where Charles Leclerc retired when he was nerfed out of the race through no fault of his own, while Hamilton later joined him on the sidelines with crash damage.

“Brazil was a huge disappointment,” Elkann declared.

“In Formula 1, we have mechanics who are always first in performing pit stops. The engineers work to improve the car.

“The rest is not up to par. We have drivers who need to focus on driving, talk less, and we have important races ahead of us, and it is not impossible to finish second.

“This is the most important message coming out of Bahrain: when Ferrari is a team, we win.

“We need drivers who think more about Ferrari and less about themselves.”

His comments raised eyebrows in the Formula 1 paddock, although sources within Ferrari suggested it was intended as motivational, not criticism.

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And that’s how Hamilton took it.

“John and I, we speak almost every week so we have a great relationship,” he told the media in Las Vegas. “I didn’t have a reaction to it. I don’t really look into those things too much.”

Asked about Elkann saying the drivers should “talk less”, Hamilton jumped on that suggestion, especially if it means fewer media commitments.

“I mean, I’m always willing to do less media,” he quipped to much laughter.

“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.”

Hamilton added the furore around Elkann’s comments when he took to social media hours later in what appeared to be a response to the president.

“I back my team. I back myself,” he posted, sharing a collage of photographs taken at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

“I will not give up.

“Not now, not then, not ever. Thank you, Brazil, always.”

The seven-time World Champion insists his social media post had nothing to do with Elkann, stating he wasn’t even aware of his comments until much later.

“It wasn’t reaction actually,” he said. “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.”

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