Lewis Hamilton has already said what John Elkann would love to hear about Ferrari during the 2025 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton found himself under fire from Ferrari CEO John Elkann after a disappointing Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Briton retired halfway through the race after battling damage sustained in separate lap one shunts with his rivals. It was a miserable race for Ferrari.

Charles Leclerc was also forced out of the race before he had a chance to get stuck into it following contact with Kimi Antonelli. Second place in the constructors’ championship now feels unlikely.

With three races to go, Hamilton and company will be looking forward to turning a page on the 2025 campaign, which they look set to go winless in.

Hamilton won’t be ‘whining’ about going winless, but it’s certainly not an ideal situation for him. For the first time in his career, it looks as though he’ll miss out on scoring a podium across a season, too.

On the evidence of the 21 races seen so far, Valtteri Bottas was wrong about Hamilton’s Ferrari move, after suggesting he wouldn’t struggle to adapt.

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John Elkann should love Lewis Hamilton’s assessment that Ferrari has the ingredients to win

Ferrari claim Elkann’s attack was designed to encourage the drivers, but it came across as though they were blaming them for their shortfalls.

One look at their results and some of the heroics of Leclerc shows that it’s more of a car or design problem than a lack of execution.

Leclerc may be Ferrari’s ‘only’ positive this year, but there may be another too. Hamilton has already pointed out that he thinks the team has ‘every single ingredient’ needed to win.

That should encourage Elkann, and if he hasn’t heard those words, it may be something that he would love to hear at this time.

“I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be,” Hamilton said. “I followed my intuition and my gut, honestly, every day has felt right.

“I’ve been made to feel at home, I know, luckily enough, having experience, I’ve gone to another team before, I know what that step is like, and I’ve been able to prepare for this one even better than ever before. However, it is a massively steep learning curve and is a completely different characteristics of car.

“Been driving a completely different engine for so long. I’m enjoying this new kind of class that I’m in, in the sense of the learning lessons,” he continued.

“And also just being able to bring my own tools, my own experiences, and merge them with the incredibly talented people that are here. They have every single ingredient needed to win a world championship here. It’s just about putting the pieces together.”

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Why 2026 is a critical year for Ferrari’s current project

Heading into the 2026 F1 regulations, the majority of the Ferrari setup is under pressure to deliver. They’ve now had time to iron out any creases.

The expectation, as ever, will be for them to compete for victories at the very least. But there are no guarantees.

Kimi Antonelli is Ferrari’s ‘dream’ signing, according to Ralf Schumacher, and he could be at the front of the queue for a gig if changes are made.

It all depends on what sort of car the team brings to the season-opener in Australia next season, which is poised to be one of the most exciting races in recent history.