Ferrari must copy Lewis Hamilton media trick from Mercedes to avoid more John Elkann wrath

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Lewis Hamilton’s reaction to his performance at the Las Vegas Grand Prix might have set off alarm bells at Ferrari’s factory in Maranello.

After qualifying last, Lewis Hamilton could only recover to 10th on the road, which eventually became eighth after the disqualification of both McLaren drivers.

However, the Ferrari driver’s comments after the race drew the most attention from fans and the media.

Hamilton came out after the race and said it had been a ‘horrendous weekend’, and that he had been ‘really struggling’ as he tried to catch up to Nico Hulkenberg.

As his time in the media pen went on, Hamilton even had to dismiss a question about his immediate F1 future, as he was so downbeat when talking to journalists.

This isn’t a new trend for Hamilton, although he was rarely this upset during his time at McLaren and Mercedes.

Journalist Edd Straw has suggested a way for Ferrari to avoid Hamilton being quite so negative in the media pen, which will please chairman John Elkann, who called him and Charles Leclerc out after the Brazilian Grand Prix for not backing Ferrari publicly.

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Ferrari must start delaying Lewis Hamilton’s media pen appearances after races

Straw was reflecting on Hamilton’s dour mood on The Race F1 Podcast after the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

He explained: “I guess the real talking point was Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari, apparently, there was quite a lot of misery.

“I could see Lewis just to my left because I was on the other point in the [media] pen speaking to other drivers, and he looked fairly miserable.

Jon Noble replied: “Speaking to Lewis Hamilton in the pen, you’re not quite sure what you’re going to get.

“But you can tell within literally two seconds of it starting as to how the media session is going to go because the first clue will be how far he stands away from the journalists, because I think the closer he is, the happier he is, and today he stood quite a way back.”

Straw continued: “His whole mood straight after the race is always very dependent on how he’s done, which sounds like stating the obvious, but for some drivers, it’s quite a narrow band.

“The fact that Lewis doesn’t speak a little bit later after the race, as he used to with Mercedes, I think actually means he doesn’t show the best of himself in terms of explaining what’s going on.

“I think you’ve got to keep that in mind when you see some of those comments that make it sound like he’s pretty much ready to pack his bags and not even go to Qatar.”

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Ferrari must listen to Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton ahead of the 2026 F1 season

Team principal Fred Vasseur has the benefit of working alongside two of the fastest drivers on the grid right now.

Leclerc has never hidden his feelings about Ferrari, and his admission in Las Vegas that the team have never understood how to maximise their performance in the rain during his seven seasons with the team is a concern.

Hamilton is also very emotionally charged, and he’s never been a driver who will hide his feelings when speaking to the media.

However, instead of trying to mute their drivers, Vasseur and Elkann need to listen to their complaints heading into the 2026 season.

Ted Kravitz suspects Hamilton is underwhelmed by Ferrari’s 2026 car after his recent comments.

If Ferrari can find a way to stop Hamilton from immediately heading to the media pen after qualifying and each race, then they may find he gives more measured answers during arguably the most testing campaign of his career.