Ferrari drivers warned of making ‘fools of themselves’ in radio ‘quarrels’

In the midst of a season of terse exchanges between the Ferrari team-mates and the pit wall, Christian Danner has warned they’re making a “fool” of themselves with the “quarrels” and “smug remarks”.

Ferrari arrived on the F1 2025 grid billed as championship contenders with the Scuderia looking to build on last year’s momentum, boosted by the arrival of seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton.

It’s been a frustrating season for Ferrari

The season has not gone to plan.

As McLaren runs away with the Constructors’ Championship, an almost sure bet given they’re already 175 points ahead of their nearest rival, Ferrari are in a battle with Mercedes, and Max Verstappen, for second in the teams’ standings.

They aren’t, however, involved in the Drivers’ battle. Oscar Piastri leads that with 198 points while Ferrari’s best-placed driver, Charles Leclerc, is 94 off the pace, Hamilton a further 25 points down.

Leclerc’s and Hamilton’s frustrations have played out over the radio with both drivers getting testy with their race engineers at points.

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Leclerc was involved in the most recent back-and-forth as he and Bryan Bozzi went at it over Plan B or C at the Canadian Grand Prix.

With their exchanges broadcast by Formula One Management over the world feed, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has been advised to have a stern with his drivers as it’s not a good look.

“Well, if I were team boss, I would say, ‘watch out, guys, the quarrels and these smug remarks, I don’t want to hear them anymore’. That’s it,” former F1 driver Danner told Motorsport-Magazin.

“You simply make a fool of yourself if you keep talking past each other. The Leclerc number with the engineer was amazing.

“If I know that I’m going to land on the TV screen, then I have to think very carefully about whether I might not just press the radio button. And that would be my advice to everyone involved.”

The former F1 driver, who made 36 starts over four seasons, says that although he understands the fighting spirit of the drivers, they have to leave the decision-making to the strategists.

“The fact that discrepancies or dissonances sometimes arise is nothing but normal,” he continued, “But then you don’t press the radio button but say: ‘We’ll talk about it later’.”

“I don’t like to say that, because of course I have the driver’s soul in me.

“But you can judge certain things from the cockpit, but of course you have to leave the decision-making authority to those who see everything. Yes, I can incorporate the information, but the strategy department decides that.”

Vasseur was asked about Leclerc’s terse radio commentary after the Canadian Grand Prix, and revealed he spoke with the Monegasque driver after the chequered flag.

“They are a bit vocal,” Vasseur said.

“I discussed with Charles after the race that where he’s right is that we have not that much to lose when you are behind the pack, and we can take some risk.

“But, it was for us a bit too optimistic to do one stint of 50 laps with hard [tyres], in terms of life first, before performance, and we were missing probably also some laps during the weekend to estimate it.”

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