Was Ferrari Chairman Unfair To Hamilton And Leclerc?

The 2025 Formula 1 play is heading for a hectic climax pinch 3 races connected successive weekends to determine nan victor of nan drivers' championship.

Lando Norris has a commanding 24-point lead complete McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri heading into nan Las Vegas Grand Prix, which takes spot nether nan lights connected nan Strip astatine 04:00 GMT connected Sunday.

That is followed by grands prix successful Qatar, from 28-30 November, and past Abu Dhabi, from 5-7 December.

Before nan title successful Vegas, BBC F1 analogous Andrew Benson answers your latest questions.

Are Ferrari chair John Elkann's comments that Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc request to ore "on driving and talk less" aft their mediocre results this play unfair? - Jordan

John Elkann surely caused a operation pinch his remarks nan time aft nan Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

It's not clear what precisely provoked them, arsenic Ferrari did not say.

But fixed they came little than 24 hours aft Hamilton had said that his tally of results successful his first play astatine Ferrari were "a nightmare, and I person been surviving it for a while", it would not beryllium unreasonable to suppose nan seven-time champion mightiness person been successful Elkann's mind.

As acold arsenic Hamilton goes, this is emblematic of nan benignant of affectional remark he makes erstwhile he has had a disappointing race.

Remember erstwhile he said aft Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying that he was "just useless" and "drove terribly" and Ferrari "probably request to alteration driver"?

He didn't mean that then, not really. And Brazil should beryllium seen successful that context.

After all, Hamilton went connected to say: "I judge location is thing bonzer up ahead successful my life and successful my destiny. I genuinely still judge successful this squad and what we tin execute together."

Which is, 1 mightiness think, precisely nan benignant of connection Elkann would want to hear.

The rumor galore group had pinch Elkann's comments was that their accuracy was questionable.

He singled retired nan mechanics for praise for "basically winning nan title pinch their capacity and everything that has been done connected nan pit stops", connected nan ground they are starring nan rankings for mean pit-stop time., external

Fair enough, but past he said: "If we look astatine our engineers, there's nary uncertainty that nan car has improved."

Well, possibly it has. But not comparative to nan opposition. Ferrari were 0.372 seconds disconnected nan gait connected mean successful qualifying successful nan first half of nan season, and truthful acold successful nan 2nd they are 0.472secs off.

As for nan drivers, yes, Hamilton has been done nan mill this year, but his performances person improved complete nan season, moreover if Brazil was a difficult title for him.

But Leclerc has been outstanding. And while he has pointed retired regularly that nan car is not speedy enough, no-one would disagree pinch that, not moreover Elkann.

Ferrari are successful F1 to win. Nothing little is bully enough. That's conscionable a fact. And Leclerc has been steadfastly loyal to nan team.

Ferrari are briefing that Elkann's remarks should beryllium seen arsenic a spur for nan squad to do better. But it's difficult to spot really Leclerc and Hamilton would return particularly kindly to them, nevertheless good meaning they were.

The grid seems to beryllium arsenic adjacent successful capacity arsenic I person ever seen. Has F1 succeeded successful creating a business wherever each driver's capacity complete a play is simply a bigger differentiator than successful nan past, and does nan upcoming regularisation alteration frighten this balance? - Matt

It stands to logic that if nan cars are person successful performance, past nan driver would make much of a difference.

Whether that is much a facet now than astatine immoderate different clip is simply a difficult mobility to reply because location are a batch of aspects of F1 now that activity successful immoderate ways to trim nan quality betwixt drivers.

Telemetry, for example, allows drivers who are not arsenic people capable to find nan limit a chance to drawback up complete a weekend.

You could spot this, for example, astatine Alpine erstwhile Fernando Alonso collaborated Esteban Ocon.

At nan commencement of a weekend, Alonso would typically beryllium considerably quicker than Ocon, who would inch person pinch each convention until he was competitory successful qualifying and sometimes capable to hit him.

Something other to facet successful is that galore would reason that nan extent of talent astatine nan apical of F1 correct now is arsenic bully arsenic it has ever been, if not better.

In Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Alonso, location are 3 drivers who would beryllium connected anyone's database of all-time greats.

In addition, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Leclerc are each exceptional, without question.

That's astatine slightest 7 world-class drivers successful F1 astatine nan aforesaid time.

Any awesome regularisation alteration inevitably increases some nan gaps betwixt teams, and nan consequence that 1 squad will bargain a march connected nan remainder of nan field, arsenic happened successful 2022 pinch Red Bull and 2014 pinch Mercedes.

It would beryllium nary astonishment if this happened again successful 2026. At nan aforesaid time, location are a batch of very precocious calibre teams successful F1 now, truthful it should not return excessively agelong for nan grid to adjacent up again.

As nan play nears nan end, nan rookies are progressively showing their talent. Is location an statement to let much testing successful existent cars for caller drivers than nan existent regulations offer? Oliver Bearman, Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar really look settled and successful a bully place. - Chris

Well, you could reason that location is nary request to alteration nan testing regulations arsenic Antonelli, Bearman and Hadjar person each proved their talent without nan request for it!

There is nary appetite successful F1 to summation testing allowances. Testing is expensive.

Having said that, location is an acceptance that rookie drivers could do pinch much opportunities to acquisition F1.

That's why nan rules were changed this twelvemonth to unit teams to tally rookies successful 2 sessions per car - a full of 4 for nan season.

And it's why teams person started moving young drivers successful cars from erstwhile years - truthful called testing of erstwhile cars (TPC) and testing of historical cars (THC).

Antonelli, for example, did an extended TPC programme past year, and this is becoming progressively communal arsenic a measurement of preparing rookies for F1 debuts.

Are Aston Martin nan squad to watch adjacent play pinch Adrian Newey successful complaint of nan creation of adjacent year's car? - Ian

The truth is no-one knows what nan competitory bid will beryllium adjacent year, and no-one will cognize until nan first title of nan season.

Newey has a beardown grounds erstwhile it comes to regularisation changes. He aced nan ones successful 1998 pinch McLaren, 2009 pinch Red Bull (once nan arguable advantage of Brawn's double diffuser had been neutralised), and successful 2022 pinch Red Bull again.

In 1998, he had officially joined McLaren only successful September of nan erstwhile year. With Aston Martin, he has had six much months than that, albeit F1 is simply a batch much analyzable now.

Of course, nan full of F1 is waiting pinch liking to spot how Newey gets connected pinch Aston Martin.

On nan motor side, Honda, which will go sole mill partner to Aston Martin, intelligibly knows what it's doing.

Aston Martin's lead driver is beautiful handy, arsenic well.

But occurrence successful F1 tends to travel from stability. And unchangeable is nan past point Aston Martin person been successful caller years.

There person been a dizzying number unit changes astatine elder levels, and they are continuing to this day.

A caller activity building has to furniture down. Andy Cowell has only been main executive serviceman for a small complete a year, and Newey did not subordinate until March this year.

Enrico Cardile was signed from Ferrari successful July 2024, but took connected his domiciled arsenic main method serviceman only successful August.

In galore ways, successful those circumstances, it would beryllium a occurrence if Aston Martin were competitory adjacent year. But, well, Newey…