2025 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team

[ScuderiaLeo]

Judging by Leclerc's Instagram caption about Brazil's race, it doesn't seem like he's happy about Elkann's comment.

It's also his first time this year using a picture of someone other than himself (Fred) as the cover photo. Fred definitely has the loyalty of the drivers.

Yup, definitely seems like an indirect response to Elkann

Take a look at what Hamilton posted too

Safe to say neither driver appreciated Elkann's comment.

I wonder what will happen to this team when they both leave and we have a brand new lineup, possibly new TP too. It will get worse before it gets better.

[Emag]

Judging by Leclerc's Instagram caption about Brazil's race, it doesn't seem like he's happy about Elkann's comment.

It's also his first time this year using a picture of someone other than himself (Fred) as the cover photo. Fred definitely has the loyalty of the drivers.

Yup, definitely seems like an indirect response to Elkann

Take a look at what Hamilton posted too

Safe to say neither driver appreciated Elkann's comment.

I wonder what will happen to this team when they both leave and we have a brand new lineup, possibly new TP too. It will get worse before it gets better.

If Elkann doesn't back down on these stances he seems to have, there is a chance Ferrari ends up with a Ollie-Oscar lineup in 2027. Charles will leave if 2026 is not good enough for him to win a title, and Elkann will not renew Lewis if he doesn't perform to his standards. We had some rumours going around that Mark Webber had been talking with Ferrari, and Ollie seems to be doing great at Haas.

In general though, it would be a damn shame if Charles doesn't win a title with Ferrari. Phenomenal driver who has poured everything into this team. He deserves to get something back after all these years.

[edu2703]

Honestly, if I were Leclerc, Elkmann's statement would seal my departure from the team in 2026, unless by some divine miracle Ferrari manages to build a car capable of fighting for the championship next year.

I've already said that Ferrari is at serious risk of having to change both its drivers for 2027, with Leclerc's departure and Hamilton's retirement. If that happens, Bearman is certain to fill one of the seats, but what about the other? People here mention Piastri, but at this moment, moving to Ferrari is seen as 'throwing away your career' move, especially considering how well McLaren is doing compared to Ferrari. Then the question remains whether to bet on a F1 veteran or a rookie from the academy like Rafa Camara.

And another thing I'll say: If Leclerc leaves Ferrari and wins a championship with another team, it will be something Ferrari will never digest. If this happens, Ferrari will have literally wasted 8 years of Leclerc's career, during which he could already be champion.

Leclerc is a talent of the kind that only appears every 10-15 years or more. Not only talented, but he has an immense devotion to Scuderia Ferrari in a way that Elkann will never understand. He endured much of the team's mess in silence, something bordering on Stockholm syndrome because of it. If the situation reaches a point that forces his departure from Ferrari, it's because the situation is truly unsustainable within the team.

Ferrari today has one of the best lineups on the grid, if not the best. If they are P4 in the championship, I can say with certainty that the blame lies at least 90% with the team, even considering Hamilton not performing as well as he could.

Without meaning to diminish Ollie Bearman, but if even Hamilton/Leclerc duo can't achieve decent results, what will Bearman/(F1 veteran or rookie) duo achieve? I'm sure Ferrari will miss Leclerc a lot.

[dialtone]

… MCL is winning everything with the worse pairing of the top 4 teams.

Do you think the McLaren pairing is "worse" than RUS+a rookie ANT? or TSU with Max over at RBR?

Yes. Next question?

[Alakshendra]

The car and the organisation—not the drivers—are the bigger problems and Elkann’s latest “talk less, drive more” jab is lousy leadership.vSince Elkann became chairman (mid-2018), Ferrari have won zero titles. Best seasons: P2 in 2019, 2022, and 2024; worst: P6 in 2020. This year (as of 11 Nov 2025) they’re P4 behind McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull. That’s a leadership era with no payoff at the sharp end.

2025 analysis of Ferrari’s SF-25 as compromised on ride height (plank wear risk), hurting low-speed performance and qualifying, race pace can look better, but the ceiling is capped unless suspension/geometry tradeoffs change. The core problem is the car and organisation, inconsistent concept, correlation/ride-height window issues, and uneven development. That’s engineering direction and process.

leadership has underdelivered, and the car is the bigger culprit than the drivers. Elkann’s public comments made things worse. The only convincing reversal would be stability under Vasseur, stronger technical hires/retention, clear correlation fixes, and a step-change car for the next regs.

But we all know he is dumb and so is Vigna so nothing will happen

[FW17]

Well John should have done a better job of ensuring the drivers had a good car then. He hired a driver known for being a late braker and getting a lot of his performance by braking as late as possible.

Maybe that is not possible with 18 inch wheels

[Jurgen von Diaz]

I can understand Elkann. They hire goat just to notice he drives worse than Sainz did. Everything has its shelf-life.

[Farnborough]

Well John should have done a better job of ensuring the drivers had a good car then. He hired a driver known for being a late braker and getting a lot of his performance by braking as late as possible.

Maybe that is not possible with 18 inch wheels

It was projected in lead-up to change over, tbe demands that this bigger rim brings with it. All of the technical error tbat could be absorbed within the 13 inch format and its flexibility etc, plus years of experience with that scenario .... far more difficult to hide from in 18s.

Right at the bleeding edge of control, attitude of vehicle, acceptance of error and the virtually invisible nuance a driver supplies to that in chasing or mitigation of that fine sphere of control, gets significantly smaller in its operating window.

Some, engineers and drivers alike, can function at higher level there, some just a small amount of the time, others simply over a broader period, to just stay in that crucial and very narrow window. We know who they are, don't we

Its symptomatic of F1 taking this route .... and now they're changing the whole thing again what a complete mess this next set of rules will be.

[Macklaren]

… MCL is winning everything with the worse pairing of the top 4 teams.

Do you think the McLaren pairing is "worse" than RUS+a rookie ANT? or TSU with Max over at RBR?

Yes. Next question?

HAHA OK interesting

[ScuderiaLeo]

It's somehow even worse in video



A number of Italian journalists are backing the drivers through their social media posts. Have not seen many people on Elkann's side yet

edit this is spiraling out of control. Even Jenson Button posted in support of the drivers!

[Luscion]

It's somehow even worse in video



A number of Italian journalists are backing the drivers through their social media posts. Have not seen many people on Elkann's side yet

edit this is spiraling out of control. Even Jenson Button posted in support of the drivers!

Ferrari has addressed John Elkann's incendiary comments:

'A Ferrari spokesperson told ESPN the comments were meant to be "constructive" and the chairman's way of spurring everyone on.'

Nate Saunders: 'To anyone outside the team bubble, that's a fairly charitable interpretation of what Elkann said publicly. It was a statement that smacked of either insecurity or arrogance (or a horrible combination of both) from a man leading a company that has not won an F1 drivers' championship since 2007 or a constructors' championship since 2008.'

[sucof]

This Elkann story is just a storm in a tea cup.
The real issue is that they made the terrible decision not hiring Newey.
I am not a big fan of his, but if you look at it, Ferrari lack exactly what Newey would bring to the table.
The exact same thing they tried to protect with not hiring him (culture, current people and team structure) is the cause of their forever second situation!!!!

I do not know who is responsible, but they hired Hamilton, for a gazillion dollars, who will never fix their team culture, and car, and arguably at declining state of his carrier, instead of hiring Newey for the same money, who would fix their real problems, and whose car might being driven by someone a lot better for a rookie salary.
So I think of Elkann, as the not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and suspect who did not make the best decisions. I think he is not qualified to have such a saying in the team. He should step back, and let someone more qualified do this job.

[Luscion]

This Elkann story is just a storm in a tea cup.
The real issue is that they made the terrible decision not hiring Newey.
I am not a big fan of his, but if you look at it, Ferrari lack exactly what Newey would bring to the table.
The exact same thing they tried to protect with not hiring him (current people and team structure) is the cause of their forever second situation!!!!

I do not know who is responsible, but they hired Hamilton, for a gazillion dollars, who will never fix their team culture, and car, and arguably declining state of his carrier, instead of hiring Newey for the same money, who would fix their real problems, and whose car might drive someone better for a rookie salary.
So I think of Elkann, as the not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and suspect who did not make the best decisions. I think he is not qualified to have such a saying in the team. He should step back, and let someone more qualified do this job.

why do people frame it like they chose Lewis over Newey, they wanted both, iirc they were the first to approach him and Fred secured the funds to do so but Stroll offered Newey more than Ferrari could, including the level of power over the team so they backed out

[ScuderiaLeo]

Newey did not want to come to Ferrari. Full stop. It has nothing to do with Hamilton.

Also that attempt by Ferrari PR to 'clarify' the comment is only going to make things worse. What a hole they're digging themselves into.

[edu2703]

This Elkann story is just a storm in a tea cup.
The real issue is that they made the terrible decision not hiring Newey.
I am not a big fan of his, but if you look at it, Ferrari lack exactly what Newey would bring to the table.
The exact same thing they tried to protect with not hiring him (culture, current people and team structure) is the cause of their forever second situation!!!!

I do not know who is responsible, but they hired Hamilton, for a gazillion dollars, who will never fix their team culture, and car, and arguably at declining state of his carrier, instead of hiring Newey for the same money, who would fix their real problems, and whose car might being driven by someone a lot better for a rookie salary.
So I think of Elkann, as the not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and suspect who did not make the best decisions. I think he is not qualified to have such a saying in the team. He should step back, and let someone more qualified do this job.

Newey would never go to Ferrari, not even if they offered him a trillion dollars. Ferrari would never give him carte blanche in the engineering team to do whatever he wanted. Lawrence Stroll offered Newey exactly that at Aston Martin, and that's why he went there.

Newey likes having the freedom to carry out his ideas and not having to be questioned by outdated engineers responsible for the team's failures in past years. That's the kind of environment he would find at Ferrari.