Carlos Sainz Exhibits Grace Regardless of Dropping Ferrari Seat to Lewis Hamilton
Carlos Sainz has displayed outstanding professionalism and composure after being changed by Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari. From the start, Sainz acknowledged the unparalleled attraction of the seven-time world champion and accepted Ferrari’s determination with out public grievance.
Nonetheless, it might be pure for Carlos Sainz to really feel some frustration when observing Hamilton’s early performances in 2025. To this point, Lewis Hamilton has seemed to be a downgrade in comparison with the Spaniard. Whereas it stays potential that Hamilton will ultimately adapt and ship performances that surpass Carlos Sainz’s earlier stage, the preliminary indicators have been removed from encouraging for the Maranello staff.
Except for a robust displaying on Friday and Saturday on the Shanghai Worldwide Circuit, Lewis Hamilton has persistently been outperformed by Charles Leclerc in each aggressive session this season. Typically, the gaps between the 2 Ferrari drivers have been important relatively than marginal.
Hamilton, who not too long ago turned 40, has amassed simply 31 factors over the primary 5 race weekends. By comparability, the Spaniard surpassed that whole within the opening 5 rounds in every of his 4 seasons with the Scuderia.
In the meantime, Carlos Sainz, now at Williams, initially confronted challenges adjusting to his new staff. Nonetheless, he has shortly discovered his rhythm, qualifying eighth in Bahrain earlier than bettering to a sixth-place begin in Jeddah, the place he additionally secured a priceless four-point haul.
Hamilton vs. Sainz: Early Qualifying Comparisons Paint a Stark Image
Following a relentless opening stretch of 5 races in six weeks, Formulation 1 has entered a quick hiatus, offering a possibility to judge Lewis Hamilton’s performances in opposition to Sainz’s earlier benchmarks. With an inexpensive pattern dimension, the comparability is more and more telling.
Throughout the 2023 Formulation 1 season, Charles Leclerc outqualified his former Maranello teammate 14 instances throughout 23 weekends, however the common hole between them was an extremely slim 0.03%. This underscored that whereas Leclerc typically had the sting over a single lap, Sainz was extraordinarily shut and recurrently in a position to problem his teammate.
Quick-forward to 2025, and the state of affairs appears very completely different. The Monegasque driver already holds a 4-1 benefit over Hamilton in qualifying classes, with the typical hole now ballooning to 0.321% in line with F1 Tempo information — greater than ten instances bigger than the earlier yr’s distinction between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
This intra-team disparity ranks because the fourth-largest amongst all full-time driver pairings on the grid. Solely Jack Doohan (0.51%), Kimi Antonelli (0.471%), and Esteban Ocon (0.413%) path their teammates by better margins — and notably, two of these three drivers are rookies.
Hamilton, by his personal admission, acknowledges that qualifying has turn out to be a vulnerability at this stage of his profession. Nonetheless, even he could not have anticipated the gulf between himself and Charles Leclerc could be so dramatic in such a brief area of time.
Carlos Sainz Attracts Curiosity However Faces Profession Warnings
Whereas Sainz continues to rebuild his popularity at Williams, murmurs about his future vacation spot have grown louder. Some Purple Bull insiders reportedly advocated for signing Sainz final yr, and with the present turbulence at Milton Keynes, they could now remorse lacking that chance.
The Spaniard has additionally begun to achieve the higher hand over teammate Alex Albon at Williams, narrowing the qualifying head-to-head to 3-2 and ending forward in Saudi Arabia for the primary time. Impressively, Sainz has additionally outqualified Hamilton previously two Grand Prix weekends, a truth not misplaced on Formulation 1 followers.
Though Williams has shifted its focus solely to the 2026 rules, successfully halting improvement on this yr’s automotive, Carlos Sainz’s constant performances might nonetheless see him push for a top-10 end within the drivers’ standings by season’s finish.
Nonetheless, Juan Pablo Montoya has publicly urged Carlos Sainz to think twice about any potential provide from Purple Bull. With uncertainty surrounding each Max Verstappen’s and Yuki Tsunoda’s futures past 2025, a seat might open — however Montoya characterised the Purple Bull alternative as “poison ivy,” suggesting it might do extra hurt than good to Carlos Sainz’s profession trajectory.
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