The hallowed halls of Maranello are seldom quiet, but in the wake of a disastrous Brazilian Grand Prix, the noise emanating from the Scuderia is less the roar of a V6 engine and more the shattering sound of organizational breakdown. Ferrari’s performance in Brazil saw them plummet to fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, a monumental failure for a team of their stature. Yet, the true shockwave was delivered not by a component failure on the track, but by a blistering, unprecedented public declaration from the very top.

Ferrari Chairman John Elkan, the man tasked with guiding the most legendary team in Formula 1 back to glory, has chosen his culprit—and it is not the flawed engineering, the strategic missteps, or the organizational structure. In a move that has stunned the Formula 1 world and left veteran Italian journalists “dumbfounded,” Elkan has pointed the finger squarely at his two superstar drivers: Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

The Unacceptable Scapegoating

The implications of Elkan’s statement are breathtaking. Following a weekend where Ferrari was universally acknowledged to be underperforming across the board, the Chairman launched an astonishing verbal attack, seemingly washing his hands of all responsibility for the team’s systemic failings.

According to his remarks, the problem is simple: the drivers need to “focus on driving and talk less”. He went further, suggesting a profound lack of team ethos at the highest level by declaring, “we need drivers who think more about Ferrari and less about themselves”.

This assessment is truly remarkable given the context. Elkan’s public critique stands in stark contrast to the praise he offered other departments. He specifically acknowledged the mechanics, noting their outstanding performance and pit stop speeds, even suggesting they were “winning the title with their performance”. He conceded the engineers had “improved” the car, but quickly dismissed these efforts by suggesting “the rest is not at the required level”.

By framing the issue as one of mere driver focus and selfishness, Elkan deflects attention from the glaring, undeniable truth: the SF-25 itself—referred to derisively by some as the ‘Lift Coast 25’—is a fundamentally flawed machine. A car that struggles with ride height issues, general performance limitations, and recurring problems that often lead to disqualification is, by definition, an engineering failure. Yet, the Chairman has chosen to publicly chastise two of the sport’s most fiercely dedicated and talented individuals instead of confronting the deep-seated technical and structural ailments plaguing Maranello.

The Absurdity of Blaming the Unblameable

To suggest Charles Leclerc is selfish or insufficiently dedicated to Ferrari is an insult to his known character and career trajectory. Leclerc, who literally lives and breathes the spirit of the Scuderia and has often been cited as the fastest qualifier on the current grid, is an organizational pillar. His single-lap pace is so respected that Max Verstappen himself, when asked to build his ideal driver, named Leclerc for qualifying speed. To malign a driver of this caliber, one arguably in his prime, for a lack of focus is an utterly baseless accusation designed purely to redirect public anger.

The critique leveled at Lewis Hamilton is even more astonishing, venturing into the territory of self-sabotage. Hamilton, the most successful driver in the sport’s history, was brought into Ferrari precisely to provide the deep, unparalleled insight and structural feedback needed to guide the team back to the top. His signing was not just a PR coup; it was an organizational commitment, reportedly spearheaded by Elkan himself, who gave the seven-time World Champion a “blank check” to join the team.

Just months after this monumental contract was signed, the Chairman is now implicitly attacking the man he fought so hard to secure, suggesting he and his teammate “care about themselves”. This spectacular, almost immediate organizational betrayal risks crushing the spirit of the team’s greatest assets.

The irony is thick enough to cut with a spanner. As the video analysis highlights, Ferrari’s inability to win is a problem that transcends specific driver pairings. The Scuderia has employed an “unbelievable array of quality world championship level drivers” since their last Drivers’ Championship win in 2008, yet has secured “precisely zero” titles in that time. The common denominator in these two decades of failure is not the man in the cockpit, but the machine and the internal structure that produces it. By blaming the drivers, John Elkan is not only scapegoating, but is also demonstrating a profound misunderstanding of his team’s 20-year structural deficit.

A Tale of Two Team Cultures

This internal chaos at Ferrari is thrown into even sharper relief by the serene, focused dominance of their rivals, McLaren. While Ferrari is embroiled in a management-versus-driver war, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are quietly rewriting the history books.

Norris, whose championship gap has widened to a comfortable 24 points over his teammate, has enjoyed a remarkable season. The young Brit has achieved the historic feat of becoming the first driver in Formula 1 to win his first eleven Grand Prix at eleven different circuits. McLaren’s success is a testament to strong leadership and a positive, upward-moving team dynamic where both drivers—despite being relatively new to title fights—are operating at an elite level.

More importantly, Norris now exudes a commanding “winning mentality” that Elkan mistakenly believes is missing at Ferrari. After his recent win in Brazil, Norris’s very first comment was not one of relief or contentment, but a competitive declaration: “Damn I didn’t win it by enough”. He was disappointed to only win by ten seconds, believing he should have extended the gap to thirty given the circumstances of the race.

This is the kind of ruthless, self-demanding focus that champions embody. It shows a driver who is constantly seeking to improve himself and his car, which he demonstrated earlier in the season by reportedly holding a meeting after Singapore to demand specific improvements from the team.

This culture of focused improvement and mutual accountability stands in stark opposition to the destructive environment Elkan is creating. In Woking, the leadership praises and supports its talented young drivers, leading to championship-winning results. In Maranello, the Chairman signs the most successful driver in history, then publicly humiliates him and his dedicated teammate, risking a total meltdown.

The Fallout and the Future

John Elkan’s statement represents a leadership failure of the highest order. By creating a “problematic team dynamic” and undermining his top talent, he has not provided a solution but has instead manufactured a new, existential crisis. Hamilton’s own assessment earlier in the weekend—describing his experience as a “flip of between the dream of driving for this amazing team and the nightmare of the results”—appears prophetic. Elkan seems to have seized on this reasonable critique of performance and warped it into an excuse to attack the driver’s commitment.

The ultimate tragedy is that this public display of blame and deflection could drive away the very talent Ferrari desperately needs to retain. Charles Leclerc has long been Ferrari’s future, and Lewis Hamilton was supposed to be its immediate guide. Now, both men must contend not only with a sub-par car and strategic failures but also with a Chairman who has demonstrated he is ready to throw them under the bus the moment things go wrong.

Until the leadership at Ferrari addresses the real problems—the design, the structure, and the chaotic decision-making at the top—no driver, no matter how accomplished, will be able to deliver the coveted World Championship title. Elkan’s public attack is a betrayal that may cost Ferrari not just the 2025 season, but any credibility it has left on the path to the future.