'Maybe lead by example': Formula 1 drivers hit back at Ferrari chairman's 'talk less' comments

Sky Sports pundit Jenson Button has hit back at Ferrari chairman John Elkann's pointed comments to his Formula 1 drivers, saying the executive should "lead by example".

After Ferrari suffered a double retirement in Sao Paulo, Elkann told Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc on Monday AEDT to "talk less" and concentrate more on driving.

As Sky Sports F1 shared the "focus on driving, talk less" snippet from Elkann's comments via their Instagram account, Button bluntly commented underneath that "maybe John should lead by example."

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Both drivers also issued reactions on the pointed comments, seven-time world champion Hamilton writing on social media, "I back my team. I back myself.

"I will not give up. Not now, not then, not ever. Thank you, Brazil, always."

Leclerc, meanwhile, posted a photo of himself alongside team principal Frederic Vasseur and stressed that "unity" would be the way forward for the struggling team.

"A very difficult weekend in Sao Paulo. Disappointing to come back home with nearly no points at all for the team in what is a critical moment of the season to fight for the 2nd place in the Constructors' Championship," he wrote.

"It's uphill from now and it's clear that only unity can help us turn that situation around in the last three races. We'll give it all, as always."

It was a dire weekend for Ferrari in Brazil, their third race of the season without either driver collecting points.

Also during the weekend in Bahrain, Ferrari won the World Endurance Championships for drivers and teams.

Speaking after an Olympic sponsorship event in Rome on Monday, Elkann compared that emotional triumph by the Le Mans 24 Hours winners to the disappointment of Brazil, and appeared to question the F1 team's unity.

He told reporters the mechanics and engineers were performing their jobs well and had improved the car but, in a pointed message aimed at Leclerc and Hamilton, said: "If we look at the rest, it is not up to scratch".

"And we definitely have drivers who need to focus on driving and talk less, because we still have important races ahead of us and getting second place (in the championship) is not impossible.

"In Bahrain we won the WEC title; when Ferrari is united we get the results."

Ferrari, close runners-up to McLaren last season, have slipped to fourth in the constructors' standings, behind McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull, and both drivers have sounded frustrated.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton, who joined from Mercedes in January, offered a grim assessment of his experience at Ferrari after the weekend's race at Interlagos.

"This is a nightmare, and I have been living it for a while," Hamilton told Sky Sports.

"The flip between the dream of driving for this amazing team and the nightmare of the results we have had, the ups and downs, it's challenging."

The Briton has yet to stand on the podium in 21 races, although he did win a sprint in China in March.

Hamilton retired from the weekend's race just after the halfway mark after two opening-lap collisions left him with a severely damaged car. He was handed a five-second penalty for one of them, which he served.

- with Sophie Wisely