<p>Ferrari chairman John Elkann has delivered a blunt message to Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc following their disastrous Sao Paulo Grand Prix, telling both drivers they need to "talk less and focus on driving" as the Italian team's disappointing season continues to unravel.</p> <p>Both Ferrari drivers failed to finish Sunday's race in Brazil, with the Scuderia plummeting from second to fourth in the Constructors' Championship behind Red Bull and Mercedes. The result compounds what has been a nightmare debut season at Ferrari for seven-time world champion Hamilton.</p> <h2>Elkann's Pointed Criticism</h2> <p>Speaking at an Italian Olympic Committee event in Milan to promote the 2026 Winter Olympics, Elkann made his frustrations clear while praising other areas of the team's performance.</p> <p>"If we look at the season in F1, we can say we have mechanics who are winning the championship with the performances they're putting in, particularly with everything they are doing in our pit stops," Elkann said, as quoted by Gazzetta dello Sport.</p> <p>"If we look at our engineers, the car has undoubtedly improved. If we look at the rest, it's not up to standard."</p> <p>The Ferrari chairman then aimed squarely at his driver lineup: "We have drivers who need to focus more and talk less, because we still have important races to come, and finishing second in the constructors isn't impossible."</p> <h2>Hamilton's Brazilian Nightmare</h2> <p>Hamilton's race in Sao Paulo ended on lap 40 after a series of incidents that epitomized his troubled first season with Ferrari. The British driver collided with Carlos Sainz's Williams and then Alpine's Franco Colapinto early in the race, receiving a five-point penalty for his misjudged overtake attempt on Colapinto.</p> <p>Speaking after the race, a dejected Hamilton admitted the scale of his struggles: "This is a nightmare, I've been living it for a while. The flip between the dream of driving for this amazing team and then the nightmare of results that we've had, the ups and downs, it's challenging."</p> <p>The 40-year-old, who joined Ferrari at the start of 2025, is yet to finish on the podium and has been comprehensively outperformed by Leclerc in qualifying, trailing his teammate 16-5 in their head-to-head.</p> <p>Hamilton's only competitive highlight came at the Chinese Grand Prix in March when he converted a Sprint pole into victory, but that race weekend ended in controversy when both Ferrari drivers were disqualified from the main race due to excessive plank wear.</p> <h2>Technical Issues Hampering Performance</h2> <p>The plank wear problem has plagued Ferrari throughout the season, forcing the team to run the car higher than optimal and requiring drivers to lift and coast into corners rather than pushing at full pace. This fundamental issue has prevented both Hamilton and Leclerc from extracting the car's true potential.</p> <p>Despite the ongoing struggles, Hamilton remains publicly committed to the Ferrari project: "I truly still believe in this team and what we can achieve together. I just have to keep pushing and keep giving them everything I can."</p> <h2>Leclerc's Early Exit</h2> <p>Leclerc's race ended even earlier than Hamilton's, retiring on lap six after being caught up in a three-way collision at Turn One involving McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli.</p> <p>Piastri dived up the inside of both Antonelli and Leclerc in the battle for second place, making contact with the Mercedes driver who then speared into the side of Leclerc's Ferrari. The impact tore off Leclerc's front left tyre, ending his race immediately.</p> <p>While Piastri was penalized for causing the collision, Leclerc suggested the blame wasn't solely on the Australian: "Oscar was optimistic but Kimi knew that Oscar was on the inside, I think, and he kind of did the corner like Oscar was never there. For me the blame is not all on Oscar."</p> <h2>Constructors' Championship Collapse</h2> <p>Ferrari's slump to fourth in the Constructors' Championship represents a dramatic reversal of fortunes for a team that challenged McLaren for the title until the final race last season, ultimately finishing just 14 points behind the Woking squad.</p> <p>This year, they trail constructors' champions McLaren by 394 points with just three rounds remaining, though Elkann insists second place remains achievable if the team can regroup.</p> <p>Ferrari currently sit sixth and fifth respectively in the drivers' championship through Hamilton and Leclerc, a far cry from the championship ambitions that accompanied Hamilton's blockbuster move from Mercedes.</p> <p>With races in Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi still to come, the pressure is mounting on both drivers to deliver results and justify their status at motorsport's most iconic team…preferably, as their chairman suggests, with less talk and more action on track.</p>