How Ferrari’s PR team told Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to respond to John Elkann questions

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Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finally gave a direct response to Ferrari chairman John Elkann ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Elkann told them to ‘talk less’ after a double retirement in Brazil.

Both drivers were active on social media in the hours after the interview emerged. Hamilton wrote ‘I back my team, I back myself’, while Leclerc posted that ‘only unity can help us’.

But it was clear that Elkann’s rebuke would be top of the agenda during media day in Vegas. A diplomatic Hamilton said he didn’t ‘take anything’ from the comment, clarifying that he speaks to his boss several times a week and admires his ‘passion’.

Meanwhile, Leclerc insisted that the remarks were supposed to be ‘constructive’. Ferrari, who haven’t won a race this season, have now slipped to fourth place in the constructors’.

Ferrari told Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to put on a ‘brave face’

According to Auto Motor und Sport, Hamilton and Leclerc were ‘thoroughly briefed’ by Ferrari’s PR department before they faced the media on Thursday. This is standard practice for an F1 team, but the stakes were higher.

The team’s motto was that the drivers shouldn’t ‘stir up any more trouble’, instead putting on ‘a brave face’. As such, one could question the sincerity of their subsequent response.

Damage control efforts were already underway last week amid briefings that Elkann’s comments were intended to spur Ferrari on, a sentiment echoed by Leclerc.

Many outsiders have leapt to the defence of the two drivers. For instance, Juan Pablo Montoya said Ferrari’s car is the problem and you only need two ‘brain cells’ to work that out.

David Croft fears Lewis Hamilton has done something that hasn’t ‘gone down well’ at Ferrari

Hamilton is adapting to a unique and unfamiliar culture at Maranello. He’s spent his entire career working for UK-based outfits, but he’s now representing the Italian national team.

He’s trying to usher in fundamental changes, but reports suggest he’s met resistance. Hamilton is the sport’s most successful driver, but the most successful team have different ideas on how things should be run.

That’s why, when he sent documents of feedback after auditing the team’s operation, Hamilton accidentally stirred up ‘resentment’.

David Croft concurs that Hamilton’s recommendations ‘haven’t gone down well’. The 40-year-old is still searching for his first podium as a Ferrari driver.