The Italian manufacturer suffered its third double retirement of the 2025 season in Brazil, a costly blow that dropped Ferrari to fourth in the constructors’ championship, now 36 points adrift of Mercedes.
Leclerc’s race ended on Lap 6 when he was taken out in a Turn 1 chain reaction involving Kimi Antonelli and Oscar Piastri, while Hamilton’s afternoon unravelled after early contact with Carlos Sainz and a collision with Franco Colapinto that left his Ferrari with significant floor damage.
The double DNF came as Ferrari’s World Endurance Championship operation secured the title in Bahrain on the same weekend, prompting Elkann to draw a pointed comparison between the two teams.
“Brazil was a huge disappointment,” Elkann said, as quoted by Sky Italy.
“If we look at the Formula 1 championship, we can say that our mechanics are winning the championship with their performance and everything they’ve done on the pit stops.
“If we look at our engineers, there’s no doubt that the car has improved.
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“If we look at the rest, it’s not up to par.
“And we certainly have drivers who it’s important that they focus on driving and talk less, because we still have important races ahead of us and it’s not impossible to get second place.
“In Bahrain, we won the WEC title. When Ferrari is united, you get results.”
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Ferrari’s recent form has shown signs of improvement, with Leclerc qualifying inside the top three at the past three rounds, but the team remains without a victory in 2025 and is now fighting to recover lost ground in the constructors’ standings.
Hamilton, competing in his first season with Ferrari, has endured a challenging campaign adjusting to the car and new environment, while Leclerc continues to lead the team’s points tally heading into the final three races of the year.
Team principal Fred Vasseur admitted the weekend was “difficult to take positives” from after both cars failed to finish.
“It’s a tough weekend,” Vasseur said.
“I had the feeling that with Charles, we were in a good place, that he had a good start, a good restart, that he took margin on the kerb, and we are paying the full price of the crash between Antonelli and Piastri.
“I don’t care about who is at fault between Piastri and Antonelli, but for sure, it was not Charles.
“It’s tough because in this fight, you can’t give up points. When you are giving up points, you are giving points also to the others.
“It’s a double penalty, and in our case, it’s very harsh.”
Hamilton’s race was compromised from the opening lap, with contact from Sainz damaging his car before the later collision with Colapinto.
Ferrari retired the seven-time world champion’s car after confirming major floor damage.
“We lost a huge amount of downforce,” Vasseur added.
“We still don’t know if it was from the crash of Sainz or from the crash of the front wing under the floor, but perhaps both of them.
“But after 200 metres, when you are P20… if you have a look at what Max did today, with decent pace, I think we can come back and you can score good points, but two crashes is too much.”
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