Ferrari receives ‘beatings will continue until morale improves’ advice after Elkann statement

After Ferrari president John Elkann’s criticism echoed across the motorsport world, former Aston Martin and McLaren figure Bernie Collins has been left asking: “what has that gained for Ferrari?”

The ex-McLaren lead performance engineer and Aston Martin strategy chief hopes that Elkann’s comments were an unfortunate choice of words at the wrong time. But, she said that this situation at Ferrari ties into the F1 team garage motto she knew of: “The beatings will continue until morale improves.”

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc defended after Elkann comments

The Sao Paulo Grand Prix was a bruising experience for Ferrari. Charles Leclerc was the innocent victim in a clash between Oscar Piastri and Kimi Antonelli, eliminating him on the spot. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, sustained floor damage when he hit the back of Franco Colapinto’s Alpine. That later triggered Hamilton’s retirement from the race.

A double DNF meant no points scored for Ferrari, and the team has slipped to fourth in the Constructors’ standings as a result.

In the aftermath of that Sao Paulo setback, on the same weekend that saw Ferrari clinch the World Endurance Championship title double in Bahrain, Elkann issued a surprisingly blunt statement, one which sources within Ferrari suggested had motivational intentions for the F1 team.

“Brazil was a huge disappointment,” Elkann said at an event in Milan.

“In Formula 1, we have mechanics who are always first in performing pit stops. The engineers work to improve the car.

“The rest is not up to par.

“We have drivers who need to focus on driving, talk less, and we have important races ahead of us, and it is not impossible to finish second.

“This is the most important message coming out of Bahrain: when Ferrari is a team, we win.

“Ferrari wins when it is united, as the WEC results have shown us. When everyone is together, great things can be achieved.”

Offering her reaction on Sky’s ‘The F1 Show’ podcast, Collins brought up an important saying in the F1 circle which she thinks directly applies to Ferrari. She also defended the intentions of Hamilton and Leclerc in what has been a challenging campaign for Ferrari.

“Drivers, F1 drivers in particular, are fundamentally selfish people. That’s how they score points. They’re out to score points for them. They’re out to get the Drivers’ Championship,” she began.

“That’s why we talk about it so much when McLaren try and get them [Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri] to do the team thing.

“But both driver’s intention was not to DNF on Sunday. On Sunday, the team points and their points were aligned. Maximum points, for either, was what they were after.

“There used to be a saying when you were in the garage: ‘The beatings will continue until morale improves.’ And that’s a bit the situation, isn’t it? What has that gained Ferrari? Not a lot.”

Ferrari last tasted title glory via its 2008 Constructors’ Championship win. Collins pointed out that neither Leclerc nor Hamilton can be blamed for the drought since.

“Charles Leclerc and Lewis have not been there that long, either of those,” she stated. “So there’s something else, fundamentally, when you look at the investment Ferrari put in and what they’re getting out in terms of championship points, as a team, as a constructor.

“Fred [Vasseur, team principal] is making changes. We can see changes within Ferrari happening, slowly, let’s say.

“But the drivers, fundamentally, want to score as much points as they can. They both want to win. And I can’t believe that they’re such at loggerheads within the team that they’re not pushing the team or the engineering forward.

“Hopefully, [Elkann] got at the wrong moment, then didn’t quite choose his words as well as he would used to. It’s a bit like, ‘Everyone needs to focus on their bit, get their bit to the absolute maximum it can be.’ And I hope that’s sort of more what he meant, that everyone needs to be working on their section of the car, their bit, and getting the most out of it in order to try and promote the points.”

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Sky F1 pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz also leapt to the defence of Hamilton and Leclerc, after they were told to “focus on driving, talk less” by the Ferrari president.

“I think it was more that, ‘Can we just please focus on not dropping down to fourth in the Constructors’ and getting back into into second, or even third,'” said Kravitz of the intention of Elkann’s words.

“It’s a mark of how Ferrari are now judging their season, as to where they finish in the Constructors’. Second would be success. It would be okay. They could rely on that. That’s cold, hard points and data, and they could say that, ‘Look, we’ve had the second-quickest car. It’s all not so bad. Okay, we didn’t win a race, but it’s all okay.’

“But let’s not forget that the people who got Ferrari to second in the Constructors’ were Charles and Lewis, because they were just plugging in the points, and let’s not forget that this car has a fundamental flaw in it that the Belgium upgrade wasn’t able to correct, in terms of the plank and not being able to run the car low and not being able to find a fix around.

“So it’s the drivers who’ve been getting the points in, and then now for Elkann to publicly single them out… I mean, the drivers have got broad shoulders. Lewis did that message on social media, saying, ‘I’ll always try, keeping going.’ Did you notice Charles Leclerc put one out as well?

“So they were putting out a sort of a united front, saying, ‘Look, we’re only thinking of the best of the team.’ I think it’s fine for Elkann to say what he wants, he’s the president of the team, but to say that the drivers should think less of themselves and more about the team… The drivers are thinking about the team. Of course, they’re thinking about the team.

“Lewis is thinking about the team when he says that he wants to make things better, and it’s going to make him more performant. Charles is thinking about the team saying, ‘Yes, some of the things that Lewis is pointing out, I felt about for quite a long time in the team, and we need to improve.’ They’re all looking to improve.

“Maybe they caught Elkann at a position where he’d seen a double DNF. It’s the worst for a team. Nobody likes to see a double DNF. That’s obvious.

“Whether Elkann will come to think that his comments were, you know, a bit strong, I don’t know. But the drivers are clearly… I mean, Lewis is being open about it, but what’s Lewis going to say, and what’s Charles going to say? ‘Oh, I’m fine with it.’ No one’s going to buy that. So, they can only say… you can’t deny what’s happening.”

Second in the Constructors’ is still a realistic achievement for Ferrari with three rounds of the season to go, with Mercedes in second, 36 points up the road.

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