Jeremy Clarkson has never been one to pass up an opportunity to wind up a Formula 1 team – and Ferrari have just wandered straight into his crosshairs with a bottle of fizzy water.
The former Top Gear and Grand Tour host has gone viral after mocking a glossy S.Pellegrino advert featuring a Ferrari-branded bottle. The print ad, proudly carrying the “Ferrari Official Partner” badge and the slogan “A passion for bringing people together”, shows the famous Italian mineral water alongside a scarlet bottle echoing the Scuderia’s race cars.
Clarkson’s verdict? Brutally simple. Posting the photo to Instagram, he wrote:
“Maybe they should use petrol. The car would be faster.”
Why it hits a nerve in Maranello
On its own, it’s a solid Clarkson one-liner. But it lands especially hard given Ferrari’s current form.
This season has been another rollercoaster in red. Ferrari’s straight-line speed has looked anonymous at power-sensitive circuits, strategy has again been questioned, and Lewis Hamilton’s long-awaited move to Maranello hasn’t yet delivered the fairy-tale turnaround many fans expected. Podiums have been rare, wins non-existent, and too many Sundays have ended with Ferrari staring at the back of papaya and dark blue cars.
So when a sponsor ad leans heavily into the image of an elegant, sparkling Italian water – while the cars themselves have often looked flat on track – Clarkson’s jab about swapping water for petrol feels like the kind of joke that’s uncomfortably close to the truth.
Fans pile in: “We need Clarkson as team principal”
If Ferrari hoped the advert would quietly promote their partnership with S.Pellegrino, Clarkson’s comment turned it into a full-blown meme. The replies under his post are a mix of comedy, concern and pure Italian passion.
One fan deadpanned: “Looking forward to Hamilton bringing it home in a triumphant P14,” skewering both Ferrari’s pace and the seven-time champion’s struggles to drag the SF car up the order. Another simply declared: “Best comment on the internet at the moment.”
Plenty wanted Clarkson properly involved in the madness. “We need Clarkson as team principal,” one user wrote, while another suggested a more on-brand solution: “You should lend Lewis your tractor to give him a fighting chance.”
The water itself even got a defence. A proud local wrote: “S.Pellegrino is fresh water. She can clean minds, open hearts, feed souls. She can help more than fuel. Greetings from San Pellegrino Terme, Italy.” Others stayed firmly on the wind-up: “Tap water might have been a better shout,” and the wonderfully Italian, “In Italy we say: che figura di merda.”
Of course, this is Ferrari, so the politics weren’t far behind. “The problem is John Elkann,” one fan claimed, echoing the long-running frustration with the Scuderia’s leadership and direction.
