Damon Hill has come out to support Ferrari Chairman John Elkann’s seeming affront of Carlos Sainz.
Ferrari Chairman John Elkann recently gave an interview discussing a lot of different topics. Elkann lauded Charles Leclerc in the interview which happened just before the Italian Grand Prix.
Leclerc currently sits second in the drivers’ standings 116 points behind Max Verstappen and just 32 points ahead of his teammate. The hope of winning the title in 2022 is all but gone for Leclerc.
When asked if Elkann’s statement was rude with no mention of Carlos Sainz, Hill supported it to be fair in a podcast:
“The fact of the matter is that Charles Leclerc, on sheer pace, is the lead guy.
“Carlos has done a great job but he still hasn’t dominated Charles, has he? A bit like Sergio [Perez].
“They are a good team, the pair of them… Carlos was actually pretty quick at Monza but he is going to have to go up another level to put Charles in the shade.
“If you are going into battle against Max Verstappen and Red Bull, you have got to put your best guys forward, you are not going to not hurt people’s feelings because there isn’t time for that in F1.
“I thought it was tough but fair.”
Hill was impressed by Elkann – ‘That is what the leader should do’
When asked about the mistakes from Ferrari in the championship that cost them points: Elkann turned the screw over team principal Mattia Binotto and the rest of the management, agreeing that Ferrari have lost points due to mistakes that could have been avoided.
Ferrari has so far lost more than 100 points because of such mistakes, Damon Hill added:
“That is what the leader should do.
“If you are trying to protect the organisation, it is no good if the outside world is saying these things because they can see it going on and then the guy at the head of the organisation saying ‘There is nothing going on’.
“Mattia Binotto is obviously trying to protect the team from pressure but it takes the guy at the top to say ‘Listen, we can see what is going on, this is not good enough. It has got to be better’.”
Damon Hill won the 1996 World Championship driving for Williams Racing.
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