Charles Leclerc believes that the ‘intent’ of John Elkann’s bold interview after Ferrari’s World Endurance Championship title triumph was ‘positive’, brushing off concerns. The Monegasque racer and team-mate Lewis Hamilton were told to ‘talk less’ and focus on racing by the company’s president.
Elkann’s strong comments came after a disastrous weekend for Ferrari’s F1 operation at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Hamilton retired after colliding with Franco Colapinto during the opening stages of the race, while Leclerc was taken out of contention in an unfortunate incident involving Oscar Piastri and Kimi Antonelli.
With Mercedes and Red Bull both sending drivers to the podium in Sao Paulo, Ferrari were made to bleed in the Constructors’ Championship. The Italian outfit now trail the second-placed Silver Arrows by 26 points with three races remaining, and Laurent Mekies’ squad have also leapfrogged them in third.
This prompted public criticism from Elkann, who, while celebrating Ferrari’s double success in WEC at the Eight Hours of Bahrain, declared that his F1 stars “need to focus on driving and talk less”.
Asked about the president’s criticism ahead of the race in Las Vegas, Leclerc replied: “John and I have known each other for many years, so we have a very good relationship and obviously we’ve been working together for many years.
“We know each other and I know John is a very ambitious person and wants to push every people to the maximum in order to have the maximum results. He loves Ferrari, I love Ferrari, we all love Ferrari and we try to do the best in every situation. I didn’t actually see the news.
“John called me before that, just like he does after every races to catch up, and to also tell me that the messages he wanted to send was a positive one in saying we need to do better and that is clear for everyone. So really, we are aligned and I’ll do absolutely everything in order to bring back Ferrari to the top.
“This I’ve always said in the past and I’ve always tried my best. I’ll try to do better. That really is the priority in the team and what we want to achieve. John has always been very honest with me. And I think that is very rare; I’ve seen that throughout my career, when you are in Formula 2, Formula 3, it’s very easy to meet people that are honest with you.
“When you get to Formula 1 and your status changes a little bit, it’s a lot more difficult to actually find people that are honest with you. John has always been extremely honest with me and when he thinks I’ve done something wrong or that anybody has done something wrong in the team, he will say it.
“Whichever way it’s been expressed, I cannot really comment and it’s not my job to comment. But the intent was positive and that’s what really matters to me. So that’s why I’m fine with that.”