Carlos Sainz reveals true Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari feelings after pre-F1 2024 axe

Carlos Sainz has emphasised he is leaving Ferrari on good terms, despite him losing his seat in favour of Lewis Hamilton for F1 2025.

While a renewal of the partnership between Sainz and Ferrari appeared likely over the winter of 2023/’24, the bombshell dropped in January as the Scuderia announced it had secured Lewis Hamilton’s signature for F1 2025 to pair him with Charles Leclerc.

Carlos Sainz: You can’t say no to Lewis Hamilton

While Sainz might have grounds to feel aggrieved by having his cockpit taken by Hamilton and seeing his Ferrari career coming to an end after four seasons with F1’s most illustrious team, the Spaniard is keen to emphasise that he harbours no such negativity.

Sainz was recently announced as moving to Williams for next season, meaning victories and podiums are not likely to be possibilities any time soon, but his relationship with Ferrari hasn’t soured as the races tick down to his final outing in red at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

“I have no bad words for Ferrari,” Sainz told Spain’s AS.

“I don’t think they have any bad words for me either. It is not a relationship that has broken down because we are not happy with each other, but because of a circumstantial cause”.

With team boss Fred Vasseur engaging Lewis Hamilton in talks and pouncing upon the seven-time F1 World Champion as he made himself available after more than a decade with Mercedes, Sainz said he understood the high-profile signing wasn’t one Ferrari could ignore – as was immediately evidenced by Ferrari’s share prices surging in the hours following the announcement of Hamilton.

“I remain convinced that if Hamilton had not wanted to finish his career at Ferrari, I would have renewed [with them],” Sainz said.

“But you can’t say no to a seven-time world champion, I understand that, it’s a relationship that was destined to happen”.

And, even if Ferrari becomes competitive to the point of challenging for the title more strongly next year, with Hamilton benefitting from Sainz’s hard work this year, the Spaniard says he won’t be looking across with envy.

“Something from me will have contributed, but I won’t be following Ferrari’s year,” he said.

“My head will be focused in the present. That feeling will not exist”.

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While Sainz will take a step back on the grid to the lesser-resourced Williams outfit as he pairs up with Alex Albon at Grove, the Spaniard said he will have no problem readjusting to the expections of a midfield team.

“It’s something I’ll have to readapt to. But it’s a position I’ve been in for seven of my 10-year racing career, fighting for points and not winning,” he said.

“That’s the life of an F1 driver. You can ask so many other drivers who have been in that situation.

“Nothing guarantees you to fight for winning, so you have to enjoy the opportunities. Not just as a result, to enjoy winning, but to enjoy it on a mental level because you are lucky to be one of the top 20 drivers in the world, and to be one of the three or four who can win a race”.

Now in his 30s, with his Ferrari days almost behind him, Sainz has vowed to try helping Williams move forward up the grid and to take pleasure in the challenge of making that happen.

“My next step is Williams, and we have to try to do something at Williams similar to what I have done at Ferrari or McLaren,” he said.

“I want to help the team to go forward. I have the experience and good energy, being still young, to help them progress.

“I’ve been good at this in the past and that’s my next goal. If Williams is fighting for the top 10, we have to make sure we’re a consistent team in the points for the next two years that I’m going to be with them. If those years go well and I see that we’re going in the right direction, I’d like to be able to bet for them in the future as well.”

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