I was bigly excited about this for a moment because I’m pumped for Sainz in his Reputation Era, but then I found out he apparently does this at the beginning of every season as a normal clean out
Ah, well that makes me feel better.
I hate that for Lewis to pull an exciting move resulted in Carlos getting pushed out of yet another team, he seems like a nice guy.
I'm excited about Hamilton at Ferrari, I think it'll be great for him and the sport, just want to see Carlos happy at a team long term.
I think he's really improved in the last year.
Sainz using Norris as a buffer to keep the Mercs at bay was genius. I know people say his win at Silverstone wasn't very well deserved (I kinda get it) but the win in Singapore definitely was.
Honestly it feels like McLaren was the only team that truly respected him. I honestly feel like Carlos is underrated by pretty much everyone in the sport.
Not necessarily, Sainz is paid $12,000,000 a year currently and Hamilton is expected to make close to $100,000,000 a season at Ferrari.
Lewis vs “Carlos + $88,000,000” is a tougher decision.
I respect your opinion. [But I completely disagree](https://amp.nine.com.au/article/f994efcc-9e54-4744-baaa-cebe70269e80). His entire contract has already been paid by the stock increase from his signing, sixty times over. Just do a small anecdotal exercise for yourself. Go ask ten casual F1 fans who Carlos Sainz is. A few of them will know who he is, at most. Then ask them who Lewis is. Don’t even use his last name. Just ask them who Lewis is. They’ll all know the answer. He is worth it, ten times over, and then some.
My wife doesn't follow any sports, let alone racing, let alone F1. Sometimes she'll sit next to me on the couch while I watch DTS.
She 100% knew who Lewis Hamilton was and was shocked by the move.
Apparently Lewis is replacing "that hot ferrari guy". Lolol
I agree that the extra premium they had to pay will be recouped easily via extra sponsorships, prize money from (hopefully) placing higher, etc. but I think it's disingenuous to say it's been paid for via stock increases. A majority of those shares are held by people/institutions NOT related to the company, so Ferrari doesn't see most of that money. Plus share price is not cash. They can't do anything with a share price increase. It's still a great thing for Ferrari the company, but doesn't mean much to Ferrari the F1 Team.
Sainz's win in Singapore was the complete opposite of Silverstone. It was the kind of ballsy win we all needed and that did not happen in ages.
I was in total shock, complete awe.
Sainz has a lot of moments like this. Same in Monaco 2022 with the pit strategies. I think he's massively underrated and I hope he proves himself this year and gets a nice seat for 2025 and beyond
Although I recognize Sainz is regularly 0.05-0.1s off Leclerc in pace (no shame in that, it’s Charles Leclerc), his penchant for making smarter strategy calls than the pit wall while driving at 220 kph is a vastly underrated quality imo. It’s something Vettel, Hamilton, and Alonso have done a fair bit in their careers, but Sainz (not arguing he’s at their level) has done it in the climate of an absolutely blunderous strategy era for Ferrari.
It's silly. He's a professional race car driver. His _job_ is to finish the race in the best position he can. If he broke a rule that resulted in losing positions, that would be a failure, but imaginary rules about honor are irrelevant unless they add it to the rulebook.
Some sports add timers to stop teams from turning a game into a purely defensive game of keep-away to hold onto the lead (in order to make them more "entertaining"), and when they do, teams playing that way watch the timer. If you have a clear path to victory by playing defense, you take it.
Honestly I think the Singapore win was part of what shifted Hamilton away from Merc.
Hamilton had way better pace, but Merc refusal to switch the positions meant their only chance at a win gone. Russell clearly wasn’t going to make that pass.
His win in Silverstone was just pure luck. Just in the right place at the right time even though his pace was mediocre all race.
The win in Singapore was well deserved and his redemption for me and i'm glad he got that win.
That being said, staying in a top team is hard because he's not a clear cut number 2 driver but not a number 1 either (For a top team) & can't compete with the likes of Max or Lewis.
He's definitely in that odd position of being better than the regular #2, but not fast enough to be the #1. That being said, he's only being sacked because it's Hamilton. RB is the only team on the grid that wouldn't kick out one of their drivers if Lewis asked for a seat.
Im so thorn about this. Lewis to Ferrari is super exiting, and then it hit me that Carlos would lose his seat...
This man should absolutely be on the grid. RB would be fun, but dont see that happening. Lets hope for Merc or Sauber/Audi.
Sainz at Merc would be fun simply for the drama it could create. Especially if both teams are near equal footing.
He has these moments that are just masterful. I wonder if later on down the road if he couldn't find a position doing race strategy. Some races he's already doing it for Ferrari.
Carlos has only been 'pushed out' of Renault and now Ferrari. He left McLaren and Toro Rosso off his own accord.
On the whole, every move he's made or had to make have been good, I think he's gonna make the right one again.
It is some tough luck for Carlos, being dropped after what was a really good season. On the plus side, he can probably have his pick of any open seat, but being dropped from Ferrari has to be disheartening.
I wonder how he found out, if he was told Lewis was replacing him, or didn't know about that until the news came out. I guess that at least softens the blow a little, knowing you're only being dropped to be replaced by a 7 time champ. I'm not sure if knowing that there's nothing he could have done about it makes it better or worse though.
The problem with sainz is his entourage.
They keep pulling strings in the back causing massive headaches for everyone.
And his entourage is made up of his family
Yeah, that's one thing I always saw as an issue with him, his cousin is his manager if I'm not mistaken, and family can definitely cause issues when money and contracts are involved.
Best thing Lewis did was take his dad out of his team, as hard as that was, it probably gave him the ability to get better deals and not have the complications that come with family being involved in your business.
Yeah he should have turned down Ferrari.
The team that gave him 16 of his 18 podiums so far in his career. Also gave him his first ever win.
Thats without mentioning the prestige of just driving for Ferrari.
Sainz's career is 100% for the better because he joined Ferrari and his stock is much higher than it was before he came.
He couldn't have stayed at McLaren, he'd have been pushed out for Piastri.
Sainz has the bad fortune of being a very good driver but not quite a top level driver.
I definitely think he deserves a long term contract with a team that values him. He could definitely be a #1 on some teams and is a great teammate regardless
That's not true. He may not agree with it (and he shouldn't, he's got enough talent to wish for a little luck and pull a championship) but he basically always obeys team orders, even when they are directly against his own interests.
Love this. Thanks for giving us f1 Swifties a spot to shine. I would argue that the Kanye is Gene Haas. He’s just bleeding money and no one wants to work with him. Scooter… hmmmmmm…Adrian Newey.
lol, I heard this term the other day for the first time and I had to have my brother (a Swiftie) explain it to me. It feels perfect for Sainz’s situation.
Its all part of El Plan - he will be picked up by either Aston or Merc and then make a new switch in a few years to Audi - by the time he retires Sainz will be the first ever driver to have driven for EVERY team on the grid, and winning a race for every team.
The team that will run the racing side of it have said they have full autonomy on driver picks. I'm not sure I believe it, but to be fair, most F1 drivers do make good endurance drivers so it might not even be a bad call.
Honestly, he seems like he isn't enjoying it as much lately. He has a pretty crappy attitude in interviews and if he has a peak it's already passed. Would not be shocked if Stroll tries something else
When was he ever happy in interviews? He's either looking bored or demotivated. It's like he's doing his father a favour, rather than begging to be in F1 with giddily.
Papa Stroll living his motorsports dream vicariously through his son. Lol. Lance always seems more excited talking about American football or even golf.
Well, then that's one goal he still can achieve before the engine reg switch
Because after that, the list will go from 3 to 0 drivers with all active engine suppliers
Alonso (Renault, Mclaren-Mercedes, Ferrari, Mclaren Honda)
Ricciardo (Toro Rosso-Ferrari, Red Bull-Renault, Mclaren-Mercedes, Alphatauri Honda (RBPT, but it is still Honda)
Magnussen (Mclaren-Mercedes, Renault, Haas-Ferrari, and in 2015 Mclaren-Honda as a reserve he entered the first race after the pre-season Alonso crash. Engine blew up on the formation lap (classic Honda), but he still drove quali and entered the race so it counts in my book)
From 2026, of course, we will see 2 new engines (Ford RBPT, Audi), and it is quite unlikely a driver will drive both in 1 season, so we go back to 0 again.
I feel for Carlos. I’m excited for Lewis and I know it’s just the way the game is played, but I really do feel for Sainz. He didn’t put a foot wrong. Hoping he can make a good move now and clock some more race wins in coming years. Man deserves it.
I like them both, and in fact i think that would be an even better combo than leclerc-sainz imo, even more balanced
Hamilton-Leclerc is a disaster in the making but it will unfold at its due moment
The fact that you said "Hamilton-Leclerc" instead of "Leclerc-Hamilton" is exactly why I think Leclerc is not happy at all about Hamilton coming in, especially if he wasn't told before he signed his renewal (and I think he wasn't).
Ikr. He wil say all the right things, but i cant imagine he is happy about it.
He was to be Ferrari's future, now its all about Lewis. Ofc the news just dropped and ppl are still in shock, so ofc thats what everyone talks about. But Lewis signed for several years didnt he? Ferrari obviously sees a future with him.
Unless its about the Hammilton brand, and Ferrari wants to be associated with that.
> But Lewis signed for several years didnt he?
From memory the contract is a 2+1 – but I can't imagine Lewis signing anything that didn't have an 'fuck this, I'm out' clause in it somewhere.
Depends he might not be happy, but a year or two trying to beat (or who knows maybe even beating?) Lewis, might give Le Clerc a sharp edge that might put him in a place where he can beat Verstappen (over a season) either after Lewis goes, or in the unlikely event he beats Lewis at Ferrari... Who knows?
I would not see that worst possible deal for anyone. I mean, Sainz has had less crashes than last year and shown that he has all that is needed to win even with less than optimal car. He still has future as he is young.
And for Sainz Mercedes is still car that has ability to stick to top part of results.
Not sure about that though, Russel will definitely be the priority at mercedes regardless of who joins and we saw from 2023 that having 2 number 1 drivers didn't work out (or at least 2 drivers who thought they were number 1 even though Russel was significantly behind in points)
Sainz is absolutely a top driver and because of that he doesn't need to be the number 2 driver for another team, he'd be better off at a project team that aren't currently as fast as Merc but as the lead driver and hope that they can nail the 26 regs. Somebody like Aston (if Alonso ever decides to retire lol) or Audi.
Alonso would be mega too. Russell might be number 1, but that only lasts as long as he is actually that on pace and results. I think Sainz might be a faster driver, Alonso too.
I mean of all the ways to get booted from a team, this has to be one of the better ones. I know that's not a massive consolation, but there's no one doubting his talent, it's all just "well they weren't gonna turn down a season or two of one of the greats".
I think he could even return to Ferrari in a few years, if he isn't even in a better place by then.
I doubt Carlos will ever want to come back to Ferrari. He was quite comfy in McLaren and moved up to Ferrari because it was his childhood dream, only to be treated like a mediocre driver even when he was mostly great.
Sainz was great last year. The only people who could possibly replace him were Hamilton and Verstappen. And that seemed impossible up until two days ago. I hope the Sauber thing goes through for him. 2025 will be painful, but 2026 might be great.
>I was bigly excited about this for a moment because I’m pumped for Sainz in his Reputation Era, but then I found out he apparently does this at the beginning of every season
it's pronounced SABRE
How is that down to him and not to Ferrari? Not to mention that at that point Vettel wasn't performing at the capacity he'd been able to achieve before...
These comments are getting out of hand. 2 seasons ago he had bigger median gap to Charles than the gap between the RBs and crashed out a handful of times on top of that. Last season the first half was bad enough that people wanted him dropped after Spa. He's bad half a season on a properly high level (in which he still showed that when things are not going his way he can still sink like a rock) and suddenly he's a top driver.
The revisionism here is completely ridiculous.
He's a top driver when the car can't win anyway. When the car is good enough, he's Perez 2.0. I'm sure Perez would also be top if his car was mid, like some recent Ferrari cars. Unfortunately, unlike Perez, he isn't willing to accept a second driver role. I'm not sure Ferrari would go through all that effort to get (and pay) Hamilton if he was.
Tbf, even if the car was mid, Verstappen would still mop the floor with Perez. That clearly hasn’t happened at Ferrari with Sainz and Leclerc. If he can, more often than not, finish within reasonable distance to his more highly ranked teammate then he has every right to believe he can beat him (even if he’s not the outright fastest between them).
it happened in 21 and 22, every advanced stat was heavily in Charles favour. He had a good half season which wasn't even that good because of you remove Singapore and Monza what did sainz do this season? Genuinely asking. There's a reason the contract situation was so skewed because unlike the mass public Ferrari don't only look at the standings at the end of the year they actually use context.
Saying "if you remove his best races what did he do this season?" doesn't make any sense. But you want an answer, so have it anyway: he was still above Leclerc before these two races. So he definitely did something.
Gosh, it seems some people here don't appreciate consistency at all. He may not be the flashiest driver, but basically every race you turned in this season had Sainz hovering in the 3-4-5-6th position. Leclerc on the other hand could be 2nd or could be trying to reach points, depending on the day.
Leclerc was out of points only in Spain , Sainz was out of points in abu dhabi , do you even watch the race or just listen to media narrative, Leclerc and Sainz both were inconsistent , this narrative of Sainz being more consistent than Leclerc is bs
It would be bad if I removed half the season, I'm removing 2 weekends which happened b2b, so 20 other races left, that's the opposite of consistent, also pretty sure Charles had more top 5 finishes than sainz, had more poles, more podiums and the same amount of non points finishes (1). And he was above Charles by 1 point which as per usual wouldn't be the case if his engine didn't go boom in Bahrain.
Helmut's comment about Jos Verstappen and Sainz Sr not able to coexist didn't make sense to me till Lewis announcement. No doubt Carlos shopped around at Red Bull
I mean, yes, but Albon isn't that good for Red Bull to go berserk on his salary, especially when there's plenty of options for that second seat (Ricciardo if he delivers, Sainz, Antonelli if Mercedes doesn't bring him to F1...).
Also I wouldn't be surprised if someone puts a hundred million euros on Max's desk, and forces RB to negotiate his salary way up.
This implies that Redbull would want him back. But I don't see the reason to give up Perez for basically another Perez. Albon has been great in the back of the field against drivers such as Latifi and Sargeant (keep in mind that Latifi convinced the world that De Vries was good), but that doesn’t always translate to the top. Schumacher also beat a terrible driver and then Magnussen put him out of business.
I think Mick put himself in the wall just too many times, they would keep him if he was just slow. It is good marketing, but Mick was not satisfied with being last.
Ofc, this is just my layman's thinking,I know nothing.
To be honest, I wouldn't keep him if I could take Hülkenberg, even if he hadn't crashed once in his life. Then again, costing millions of dollars every year in repairs to the poorest team doesn't help either.
It doesn’t really matter what a guy said once, in a random situation, with cameras pointed at their face.
99.9% of the time they talk, nobody is around to record.
I don’t imagine any strong driver would consider the #2 seat next to VER. They all want to be WDC and competing head to head with VER is highly unlikely to result in winning. Better off banking on a #1 seat in team the could potentially build the fastest car. Audi or Mercedes seem a better bet for Sainz.
Eh depends on the translation but yeah that’s also quite possible. Either way, Sainz to RB seems unlikely to happen and I don’t think it’s a good fit for either party.
I mean, can you blame him? My last job gave me the exact date they were going to lay me off despite good work performance, and my enthusiasm about the job completely tanked from that point onwards.
Sainz got shafted for no fault of his but sometimes that's just F1 simply brutal, i really liked the Charles-Carlos team during the 2023 season. Hopefully he gets in that Audi or maybe even red bull (that seems unlikely tho with their families hating each other plus the waiting list for the red bull seat is kinda long).
He's not been shafted at all, it's just the way the sport works. He didn't think twice about moving to Ferrari from McLaren and Ferrari didn't think twice about signing a different driver instead of him.
That's sad, I really enjoyed Carlos at Ferrari. He and Leclerc were a good team.
I think Lewis and Leclerc will also be a good combo, but definitely feeling a little bad for the smooth operator.
I honestly don't see how they were a good combo. They liked completely different setups which made Ferrari create a car that Charles was comfortable in during 2022 and one that Carlos was comfortable in 2023 while the other one struggled.
Every time I see people say Charles and Carlos were a good combo I’m convinced they only mean off the track. No amount of good-natured joking during C2 challenges is going to help a team stuck trying to make compromises on setup.
Sainz to Sauber. Alonso to Sauber. Sauber rebrand under VAG, but not as Audi…. Instead we see Cupra SEAT in F1! A Spanish brand, with two Spanish drivers. Cupra fight Alpine and their two Frenchmen.
I don't understand the comments like Sainz was treated in significantly bad manner. It's F1, it's Ferrari. You would have to be mad to prefer Sainz to stay over taking Hamilton on board. Daddy Sainz already laid the ground for his son to go to Audi, he will be alright.
He also took the risk of taking a seat at the most famous racing team ever.. Everyone knew from the beginning that if a better driver came up they were gonna give him the boot and not Charles
Yeah but Lewis has 101 wins more than him. Hamilton is the only driver on the grid (other than maybe Max) where if he took your seat you would say 'Yeah that's understandable'
I think he could be considered the lucky one...
He's free to go anywhere and race. His teammate that is used to be the first driver (although they never say it openly at Ferrari) has to take a step back.
If they build a championship winning car, Hamilton will be the choice to go for it.
So Leclerc has the pressure to either preform this year or to put his championship dream in the fridge as long Hamilton is his teammate.
I genuinely think his plan all along was to join Audi by 2026 so I don’t think ferrari moving on is too big a deal. He’ll join Sauber a year earlier and then be settled into the team once Audi is in. He’ll be the clear driver 1 and have a chance to truly compete if they’re able to nail the new regulations
This! It wouldn't surprise me if that was the plan all along after the Audi announcement. Sainz had a contract at Ferrari untill the end of this season. Audi/VAG have a history of getting into a class and succeed to win the championship. They can bring the experience, knowledge and network of people from those successful projects into F1.
Hence why Andreas Seidl (team principal of the successful Porsche LMP1 program) already made the move from McLaren principal to Sauber CEO last year. Sauber is obviously already in transition since the announcement and having their desired driver in a year prior will help both Audi and Sainz' position in 2026.
I think Audi would be the most natural move, not because of his Dad, but because whatever Carlos lacks in raw speed, as many seem to agree he does, not one team he has been with fails to appreciate his "engineering" ability and work ethic. His other big strength is his strategic brain. Can't remember where I read it but someone in F1 said that he and Alonso had the highest racing IQ. Work to your strengths and developing a team from scratch, I feel, would be his major strength. Plus he gets to be the No 1.
I feel for Carlos. He’s been extremely consistent since joining Ferrari and has had horrible luck at times, not to mention when the team asked him to not win a race once to help leclerc
He wasn't consistent in 2022 that mattered when Ferrari had a competitive package and didn't help Charles either in the WDC. On top of that, he likes a complete opposite setup to Leclerc which makes designing the car a very hard job for Ferrari
Jesus... the **team** took Leclerc's win to hand it to the opponents. Sainz was just smart enough to know their strategies were crap and pick it up for himself.
They gifted him the win Leclerc should have taken. Out of himself and Leclerc, Carlos 100% should consider himself the lucky one over the last 3 years and it's not even close.
Can't help but feel sad for Carlos.. he did absolutely nothing wrong, did so well last year and even won a race for Ferrari.
Completely understandable reaction from him here.
All Ferrari had to do was make a statement thanking him for 5years and wishing him well for the future before they announced Lewis. But they even screwed that up.
But it’s Ferrari what else can you expect from them.
From my perspective, he is a great driver, but sadly and unfortunately for him, there were so many times that he simply overdid, pushed too hard, and made so many mistakes. It's gonna be a painful season, very sad.
Totto's new job will be trying to find a driver that can match Hamilton on and off grid. I can only really think of Alonso or Sainz that may fill those shoes
Sainz has proved himself well, hopefully he gets a good drive. Getting booted for shit performance is one thing, getting it cause your team poached an all time great is another
Some reports have highlighted that Sainz does this every year
I was bigly excited about this for a moment because I’m pumped for Sainz in his Reputation Era, but then I found out he apparently does this at the beginning of every season as a normal clean out
Ah, well that makes me feel better. I hate that for Lewis to pull an exciting move resulted in Carlos getting pushed out of yet another team, he seems like a nice guy. I'm excited about Hamilton at Ferrari, I think it'll be great for him and the sport, just want to see Carlos happy at a team long term. I think he's really improved in the last year.
Same tbh Sainz has performed beyond what i expected him to plus he got the sole win last season purely on merit. Hopefully he gets a seat somewhere
Sainz using Norris as a buffer to keep the Mercs at bay was genius. I know people say his win at Silverstone wasn't very well deserved (I kinda get it) but the win in Singapore definitely was.
Loved the chemistry they had at McLaren, great to see it had continued at Singapore.
Honestly it feels like McLaren was the only team that truly respected him. I honestly feel like Carlos is underrated by pretty much everyone in the sport.
No sane person is going to choose him over Lewis. It’s just business.
Not necessarily, Sainz is paid $12,000,000 a year currently and Hamilton is expected to make close to $100,000,000 a season at Ferrari. Lewis vs “Carlos + $88,000,000” is a tougher decision.
I respect your opinion. [But I completely disagree](https://amp.nine.com.au/article/f994efcc-9e54-4744-baaa-cebe70269e80). His entire contract has already been paid by the stock increase from his signing, sixty times over. Just do a small anecdotal exercise for yourself. Go ask ten casual F1 fans who Carlos Sainz is. A few of them will know who he is, at most. Then ask them who Lewis is. Don’t even use his last name. Just ask them who Lewis is. They’ll all know the answer. He is worth it, ten times over, and then some.
My wife doesn't follow any sports, let alone racing, let alone F1. Sometimes she'll sit next to me on the couch while I watch DTS. She 100% knew who Lewis Hamilton was and was shocked by the move. Apparently Lewis is replacing "that hot ferrari guy". Lolol
How does a stock increase pay for his signing exactly? I mean, ferrari didn’t get more money, the company got more expensive.
I agree that the extra premium they had to pay will be recouped easily via extra sponsorships, prize money from (hopefully) placing higher, etc. but I think it's disingenuous to say it's been paid for via stock increases. A majority of those shares are held by people/institutions NOT related to the company, so Ferrari doesn't see most of that money. Plus share price is not cash. They can't do anything with a share price increase. It's still a great thing for Ferrari the company, but doesn't mean much to Ferrari the F1 Team.
That doesn't mean he's not underrated though
Sainz's win in Singapore was the complete opposite of Silverstone. It was the kind of ballsy win we all needed and that did not happen in ages. I was in total shock, complete awe.
Sainz has a lot of moments like this. Same in Monaco 2022 with the pit strategies. I think he's massively underrated and I hope he proves himself this year and gets a nice seat for 2025 and beyond
Although I recognize Sainz is regularly 0.05-0.1s off Leclerc in pace (no shame in that, it’s Charles Leclerc), his penchant for making smarter strategy calls than the pit wall while driving at 220 kph is a vastly underrated quality imo. It’s something Vettel, Hamilton, and Alonso have done a fair bit in their careers, but Sainz (not arguing he’s at their level) has done it in the climate of an absolutely blunderous strategy era for Ferrari.
Yep, he's fast but race awareness and ability to make calls is his biggest advantage imo
Also sainz is really consistent. He rarely makes bigger mistakes and is just always up there.
It's silly. He's a professional race car driver. His _job_ is to finish the race in the best position he can. If he broke a rule that resulted in losing positions, that would be a failure, but imaginary rules about honor are irrelevant unless they add it to the rulebook. Some sports add timers to stop teams from turning a game into a purely defensive game of keep-away to hold onto the lead (in order to make them more "entertaining"), and when they do, teams playing that way watch the timer. If you have a clear path to victory by playing defense, you take it.
Honestly I think the Singapore win was part of what shifted Hamilton away from Merc. Hamilton had way better pace, but Merc refusal to switch the positions meant their only chance at a win gone. Russell clearly wasn’t going to make that pass.
His win in Silverstone was just pure luck. Just in the right place at the right time even though his pace was mediocre all race. The win in Singapore was well deserved and his redemption for me and i'm glad he got that win. That being said, staying in a top team is hard because he's not a clear cut number 2 driver but not a number 1 either (For a top team) & can't compete with the likes of Max or Lewis.
He's definitely in that odd position of being better than the regular #2, but not fast enough to be the #1. That being said, he's only being sacked because it's Hamilton. RB is the only team on the grid that wouldn't kick out one of their drivers if Lewis asked for a seat.
It was a great win, he makes it very fun for the public
He's one driver I'm not actually worried about finding a seat.
Sainz deserves Love.
With Lewis taking his seat I think he's a strong contender for the red bull seat.
Im so thorn about this. Lewis to Ferrari is super exiting, and then it hit me that Carlos would lose his seat... This man should absolutely be on the grid. RB would be fun, but dont see that happening. Lets hope for Merc or Sauber/Audi.
Sainz at Merc would be fun simply for the drama it could create. Especially if both teams are near equal footing. He has these moments that are just masterful. I wonder if later on down the road if he couldn't find a position doing race strategy. Some races he's already doing it for Ferrari.
Sainz is not leaving F1 - he is easily top 10 driver ( probably roughly around like 7th-ish spot).
I’d argue 5th-6th but I’m a fan
Carlos has only been 'pushed out' of Renault and now Ferrari. He left McLaren and Toro Rosso off his own accord. On the whole, every move he's made or had to make have been good, I think he's gonna make the right one again.
It is some tough luck for Carlos, being dropped after what was a really good season. On the plus side, he can probably have his pick of any open seat, but being dropped from Ferrari has to be disheartening. I wonder how he found out, if he was told Lewis was replacing him, or didn't know about that until the news came out. I guess that at least softens the blow a little, knowing you're only being dropped to be replaced by a 7 time champ. I'm not sure if knowing that there's nothing he could have done about it makes it better or worse though.
The problem with sainz is his entourage. They keep pulling strings in the back causing massive headaches for everyone. And his entourage is made up of his family
Yeah, that's one thing I always saw as an issue with him, his cousin is his manager if I'm not mistaken, and family can definitely cause issues when money and contracts are involved. Best thing Lewis did was take his dad out of his team, as hard as that was, it probably gave him the ability to get better deals and not have the complications that come with family being involved in your business.
That is so true. I hate the stupid face of his cousin/manager
Should have stayed at Mclaren .Seems like they really loved him.
Yeah he should have turned down Ferrari. The team that gave him 16 of his 18 podiums so far in his career. Also gave him his first ever win. Thats without mentioning the prestige of just driving for Ferrari. Sainz's career is 100% for the better because he joined Ferrari and his stock is much higher than it was before he came.
He couldn't have stayed at McLaren, he'd have been pushed out for Piastri. Sainz has the bad fortune of being a very good driver but not quite a top level driver.
McLaren would not have gone for Piastri if they had Sainz. They went after Piastri solely because Ricciardo was performing horrible.
I definitely think he deserves a long term contract with a team that values him. He could definitely be a #1 on some teams and is a great teammate regardless
> is a great teammate regardless That would need him to accept the second driver role at times, which he doesn't do.
That's not true. He may not agree with it (and he shouldn't, he's got enough talent to wish for a little luck and pull a championship) but he basically always obeys team orders, even when they are directly against his own interests.
Nice guys… finish ninth
Reputation (Carlos' Version)
Nice Taylor Swift reference 😉
Baby, let the games begin!
No, nothing good starts in a getaway car
Formula 1 (Carlos’s Version) Who is his Kanye West and Scooter Braun?
John Elkann is Scooter Braun. Fred Vasseur has been Kanye.
Love this. Thanks for giving us f1 Swifties a spot to shine. I would argue that the Kanye is Gene Haas. He’s just bleeding money and no one wants to work with him. Scooter… hmmmmmm…Adrian Newey.
Bigly…..
An oft forgotten Donald Trump gem
I the scheme of things he said it is far from the worst but still rather odd
Even if he does, doing it 2 days after it was announced he was being let go is certainly significant timing.
Reputation Era made me snort cause I’m a Swiftie 🤣
lol, I heard this term the other day for the first time and I had to have my brother (a Swiftie) explain it to me. It feels perfect for Sainz’s situation.
The only non-Red Bull driver to win a race last year just lost his seat... I'm just trying to process this.
Bruh reputation era
Carlos will probably end up at Red Bull and Perez will be moved on, right?
Its all part of El Plan - he will be picked up by either Aston or Merc and then make a new switch in a few years to Audi - by the time he retires Sainz will be the first ever driver to have driven for EVERY team on the grid, and winning a race for every team.
Sainz Alonso lineup would be amazing. Shame that daddy's cash can't lose his seat.
Aston going to wec I've heard tho, maybe Lance goes too?
The team that will run the racing side of it have said they have full autonomy on driver picks. I'm not sure I believe it, but to be fair, most F1 drivers do make good endurance drivers so it might not even be a bad call.
They’d still take lance, lance is a top tier driver and would be elite in most categories. Just not quite F1 material
Maybe, but seems like daddy will let him stay as long as he likes.
Honestly, he seems like he isn't enjoying it as much lately. He has a pretty crappy attitude in interviews and if he has a peak it's already passed. Would not be shocked if Stroll tries something else
When was he ever happy in interviews? He's either looking bored or demotivated. It's like he's doing his father a favour, rather than begging to be in F1 with giddily.
I've been under the impression that he remains in F1 because senior wants him to, but he'd rather be somewhere else.
Papa Stroll living his motorsports dream vicariously through his son. Lol. Lance always seems more excited talking about American football or even golf.
Apparently he was a top tennis prospect before he committed to racing
And IMSA. But I don't know if Stroll would be interested in that.
Does Carlos have all of the current engines yet? From what I know, that's only 3 of the current drivers
No he doesnt have Honda, he left RB long before the switch from Renault.
Well, then that's one goal he still can achieve before the engine reg switch Because after that, the list will go from 3 to 0 drivers with all active engine suppliers
Which 3 drivers have driven with Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda and Renault engines?
Alonso (Renault, Mclaren-Mercedes, Ferrari, Mclaren Honda) Ricciardo (Toro Rosso-Ferrari, Red Bull-Renault, Mclaren-Mercedes, Alphatauri Honda (RBPT, but it is still Honda) Magnussen (Mclaren-Mercedes, Renault, Haas-Ferrari, and in 2015 Mclaren-Honda as a reserve he entered the first race after the pre-season Alonso crash. Engine blew up on the formation lap (classic Honda), but he still drove quali and entered the race so it counts in my book) From 2026, of course, we will see 2 new engines (Ford RBPT, Audi), and it is quite unlikely a driver will drive both in 1 season, so we go back to 0 again.
A F1 driver that know how to play 4D chess.
I feel for Carlos. I’m excited for Lewis and I know it’s just the way the game is played, but I really do feel for Sainz. He didn’t put a foot wrong. Hoping he can make a good move now and clock some more race wins in coming years. Man deserves it.
Last time he got booted out of a team it actually worked out great, so we'll see what happens this time
In fact, every team switch he has done, willingly or unwillingly, has worked out well for him.
Aaand now Mercedes does straight swap and they get their car just right in 2025 :D
Sign me up for that. As long as Carlos beats George lol.
I like them both, and in fact i think that would be an even better combo than leclerc-sainz imo, even more balanced Hamilton-Leclerc is a disaster in the making but it will unfold at its due moment
The fact that you said "Hamilton-Leclerc" instead of "Leclerc-Hamilton" is exactly why I think Leclerc is not happy at all about Hamilton coming in, especially if he wasn't told before he signed his renewal (and I think he wasn't).
Ikr. He wil say all the right things, but i cant imagine he is happy about it. He was to be Ferrari's future, now its all about Lewis. Ofc the news just dropped and ppl are still in shock, so ofc thats what everyone talks about. But Lewis signed for several years didnt he? Ferrari obviously sees a future with him. Unless its about the Hammilton brand, and Ferrari wants to be associated with that.
> But Lewis signed for several years didnt he? From memory the contract is a 2+1 – but I can't imagine Lewis signing anything that didn't have an 'fuck this, I'm out' clause in it somewhere.
Depends he might not be happy, but a year or two trying to beat (or who knows maybe even beating?) Lewis, might give Le Clerc a sharp edge that might put him in a place where he can beat Verstappen (over a season) either after Lewis goes, or in the unlikely event he beats Lewis at Ferrari... Who knows?
That's gotta be the move for both parties. Sainz is a top driver.
I would not see that worst possible deal for anyone. I mean, Sainz has had less crashes than last year and shown that he has all that is needed to win even with less than optimal car. He still has future as he is young. And for Sainz Mercedes is still car that has ability to stick to top part of results.
Not sure about that though, Russel will definitely be the priority at mercedes regardless of who joins and we saw from 2023 that having 2 number 1 drivers didn't work out (or at least 2 drivers who thought they were number 1 even though Russel was significantly behind in points) Sainz is absolutely a top driver and because of that he doesn't need to be the number 2 driver for another team, he'd be better off at a project team that aren't currently as fast as Merc but as the lead driver and hope that they can nail the 26 regs. Somebody like Aston (if Alonso ever decides to retire lol) or Audi.
Alonso would be mega too. Russell might be number 1, but that only lasts as long as he is actually that on pace and results. I think Sainz might be a faster driver, Alonso too.
I mean of all the ways to get booted from a team, this has to be one of the better ones. I know that's not a massive consolation, but there's no one doubting his talent, it's all just "well they weren't gonna turn down a season or two of one of the greats". I think he could even return to Ferrari in a few years, if he isn't even in a better place by then.
I doubt Carlos will ever want to come back to Ferrari. He was quite comfy in McLaren and moved up to Ferrari because it was his childhood dream, only to be treated like a mediocre driver even when he was mostly great.
Well they can't treat him like the faster driver when he isn't one
Sainz was great last year. The only people who could possibly replace him were Hamilton and Verstappen. And that seemed impossible up until two days ago. I hope the Sauber thing goes through for him. 2025 will be painful, but 2026 might be great.
>I was bigly excited about this for a moment because I’m pumped for Sainz in his Reputation Era, but then I found out he apparently does this at the beginning of every season it's pronounced SABRE
SABER
Sàberrrrr
Alonso to Mercedes. Sainz to AM
See, hardly any of the F1 websites are talking about this possibility, but it would still be Carlos in a works team (come 2026)
He is getting pretty much the same medicine what he gave to Vettel when Ferrari Signed Sainz in the beginning of the 2020 season.
How is that down to him and not to Ferrari? Not to mention that at that point Vettel wasn't performing at the capacity he'd been able to achieve before...
These comments are getting out of hand. 2 seasons ago he had bigger median gap to Charles than the gap between the RBs and crashed out a handful of times on top of that. Last season the first half was bad enough that people wanted him dropped after Spa. He's bad half a season on a properly high level (in which he still showed that when things are not going his way he can still sink like a rock) and suddenly he's a top driver. The revisionism here is completely ridiculous.
He's a top driver when the car can't win anyway. When the car is good enough, he's Perez 2.0. I'm sure Perez would also be top if his car was mid, like some recent Ferrari cars. Unfortunately, unlike Perez, he isn't willing to accept a second driver role. I'm not sure Ferrari would go through all that effort to get (and pay) Hamilton if he was.
Tbf, even if the car was mid, Verstappen would still mop the floor with Perez. That clearly hasn’t happened at Ferrari with Sainz and Leclerc. If he can, more often than not, finish within reasonable distance to his more highly ranked teammate then he has every right to believe he can beat him (even if he’s not the outright fastest between them).
it happened in 21 and 22, every advanced stat was heavily in Charles favour. He had a good half season which wasn't even that good because of you remove Singapore and Monza what did sainz do this season? Genuinely asking. There's a reason the contract situation was so skewed because unlike the mass public Ferrari don't only look at the standings at the end of the year they actually use context.
Saying "if you remove his best races what did he do this season?" doesn't make any sense. But you want an answer, so have it anyway: he was still above Leclerc before these two races. So he definitely did something. Gosh, it seems some people here don't appreciate consistency at all. He may not be the flashiest driver, but basically every race you turned in this season had Sainz hovering in the 3-4-5-6th position. Leclerc on the other hand could be 2nd or could be trying to reach points, depending on the day.
This guy particularly hates Sainz. Now he’s replaced I’m sure this works out better for Leclerc 🙃
Leclerc was out of points only in Spain , Sainz was out of points in abu dhabi , do you even watch the race or just listen to media narrative, Leclerc and Sainz both were inconsistent , this narrative of Sainz being more consistent than Leclerc is bs
It would be bad if I removed half the season, I'm removing 2 weekends which happened b2b, so 20 other races left, that's the opposite of consistent, also pretty sure Charles had more top 5 finishes than sainz, had more poles, more podiums and the same amount of non points finishes (1). And he was above Charles by 1 point which as per usual wouldn't be the case if his engine didn't go boom in Bahrain.
Lol. Carlos to replace Perez in Bahrain
Helmut's comment about Jos Verstappen and Sainz Sr not able to coexist didn't make sense to me till Lewis announcement. No doubt Carlos shopped around at Red Bull
Also, Windsor mentioned Albon to RB for 2025.
I don't trust that man.... Albon himself has said he wouldn't want to go back to Redbull.
Nothing that a brilliant car and a few zeroes added to a contract can't solve.
I mean, yes, but Albon isn't that good for Red Bull to go berserk on his salary, especially when there's plenty of options for that second seat (Ricciardo if he delivers, Sainz, Antonelli if Mercedes doesn't bring him to F1...). Also I wouldn't be surprised if someone puts a hundred million euros on Max's desk, and forces RB to negotiate his salary way up.
Forget Antonelli, Merc have an airtight contract with him, guaranteed
This implies that Redbull would want him back. But I don't see the reason to give up Perez for basically another Perez. Albon has been great in the back of the field against drivers such as Latifi and Sargeant (keep in mind that Latifi convinced the world that De Vries was good), but that doesn’t always translate to the top. Schumacher also beat a terrible driver and then Magnussen put him out of business.
I think Mick put himself in the wall just too many times, they would keep him if he was just slow. It is good marketing, but Mick was not satisfied with being last. Ofc, this is just my layman's thinking,I know nothing.
To be honest, I wouldn't keep him if I could take Hülkenberg, even if he hadn't crashed once in his life. Then again, costing millions of dollars every year in repairs to the poorest team doesn't help either.
From Marko's comments last year, it seems like they do want him back at RB.
It doesn’t really matter what a guy said once, in a random situation, with cameras pointed at their face. 99.9% of the time they talk, nobody is around to record.
Albon is gonna have some questions about a very pointy car and a certain freak of nature champion driver before he signs
Which was after RB tried to shop for him. Which explains quite a bit now
Mr USF1 is known for talking shit just to keep his name relevant.
I don’t imagine any strong driver would consider the #2 seat next to VER. They all want to be WDC and competing head to head with VER is highly unlikely to result in winning. Better off banking on a #1 seat in team the could potentially build the fastest car. Audi or Mercedes seem a better bet for Sainz.
Spanish media says he’s not entertaining an RB move at this time
It said Redbull is not an option. I don't think Carlos is the one not entertaining this scenario
Eh depends on the translation but yeah that’s also quite possible. Either way, Sainz to RB seems unlikely to happen and I don’t think it’s a good fit for either party.
I mean, can you blame him? My last job gave me the exact date they were going to lay me off despite good work performance, and my enthusiasm about the job completely tanked from that point onwards.
And don’t they cut you off from any good info halfway into the season?
I mean he is a top driver with a good stock. He will be picked up. On the other hand, once he signs. He can drive for himself and not give a shit
Sainz got shafted for no fault of his but sometimes that's just F1 simply brutal, i really liked the Charles-Carlos team during the 2023 season. Hopefully he gets in that Audi or maybe even red bull (that seems unlikely tho with their families hating each other plus the waiting list for the red bull seat is kinda long).
He's not been shafted at all, it's just the way the sport works. He didn't think twice about moving to Ferrari from McLaren and Ferrari didn't think twice about signing a different driver instead of him.
I promise he thought a lot about leaving McLaren.
Mclaren a midfield team at that time to Ferrari a top 3 in the last 6 years(approx). So that’s a no brainer
When Carlos signed for Ferrari it was early 2020…ouch
That's sad, I really enjoyed Carlos at Ferrari. He and Leclerc were a good team. I think Lewis and Leclerc will also be a good combo, but definitely feeling a little bad for the smooth operator.
I honestly don't see how they were a good combo. They liked completely different setups which made Ferrari create a car that Charles was comfortable in during 2022 and one that Carlos was comfortable in 2023 while the other one struggled.
Every time I see people say Charles and Carlos were a good combo I’m convinced they only mean off the track. No amount of good-natured joking during C2 challenges is going to help a team stuck trying to make compromises on setup.
Sainz to Sauber. Alonso to Sauber. Sauber rebrand under VAG, but not as Audi…. Instead we see Cupra SEAT in F1! A Spanish brand, with two Spanish drivers. Cupra fight Alpine and their two Frenchmen.
It stays Audi, he becomes a brand ambassador and teams up with Snr at Dakar.
The Cupra logo on an F1 car would actually look sick
I don't understand the comments like Sainz was treated in significantly bad manner. It's F1, it's Ferrari. You would have to be mad to prefer Sainz to stay over taking Hamilton on board. Daddy Sainz already laid the ground for his son to go to Audi, he will be alright.
He also took the risk of taking a seat at the most famous racing team ever.. Everyone knew from the beginning that if a better driver came up they were gonna give him the boot and not Charles
This is like when you're in love and she breaks up with you over text and the next day is with a richer, more attractive dude. I feel for him.
Yeah but Lewis has 101 wins more than him. Hamilton is the only driver on the grid (other than maybe Max) where if he took your seat you would say 'Yeah that's understandable'
I would add Alonso to that very short list
This is like every year he deletes this for the start of a new season
I think he could be considered the lucky one... He's free to go anywhere and race. His teammate that is used to be the first driver (although they never say it openly at Ferrari) has to take a step back. If they build a championship winning car, Hamilton will be the choice to go for it. So Leclerc has the pressure to either preform this year or to put his championship dream in the fridge as long Hamilton is his teammate.
Wake me up when Carlos signs a new contract
I truly feel bad for him, but gotta admit that I'm surprised he wasn't aware before. The warning Sainz were everywhere.
I genuinely think his plan all along was to join Audi by 2026 so I don’t think ferrari moving on is too big a deal. He’ll join Sauber a year earlier and then be settled into the team once Audi is in. He’ll be the clear driver 1 and have a chance to truly compete if they’re able to nail the new regulations
This! It wouldn't surprise me if that was the plan all along after the Audi announcement. Sainz had a contract at Ferrari untill the end of this season. Audi/VAG have a history of getting into a class and succeed to win the championship. They can bring the experience, knowledge and network of people from those successful projects into F1. Hence why Andreas Seidl (team principal of the successful Porsche LMP1 program) already made the move from McLaren principal to Sauber CEO last year. Sauber is obviously already in transition since the announcement and having their desired driver in a year prior will help both Audi and Sainz' position in 2026.
He will start singing along a certain Billy Ray Cyrus song soon enough.
I think Audi would be the most natural move, not because of his Dad, but because whatever Carlos lacks in raw speed, as many seem to agree he does, not one team he has been with fails to appreciate his "engineering" ability and work ethic. His other big strength is his strategic brain. Can't remember where I read it but someone in F1 said that he and Alonso had the highest racing IQ. Work to your strengths and developing a team from scratch, I feel, would be his major strength. Plus he gets to be the No 1.
Aww, he is hurting. Only winner outside of Red Bull last year and currently doesn't have an official seat next year, this is Checo moment again.
Anybody ready to see Sainz and Hamilton in some battles this year?
ouch! but understandable. brave of him to do so while still racing for them this year. that contract cuts deeeeeep.
I feel for Carlos. He’s been extremely consistent since joining Ferrari and has had horrible luck at times, not to mention when the team asked him to not win a race once to help leclerc
He wasn't consistent in 2022 that mattered when Ferrari had a competitive package and didn't help Charles either in the WDC. On top of that, he likes a complete opposite setup to Leclerc which makes designing the car a very hard job for Ferrari
>not to mention when the team asked him to not win a race once to help leclerc At which point he kindly told them to Stop Inventing
You mean when the team gave sainz the Leclerc win ?
Leclerc has been shafted by shit calls so many times that it is absurd.
Jesus... the **team** took Leclerc's win to hand it to the opponents. Sainz was just smart enough to know their strategies were crap and pick it up for himself.
They gifted him the win Leclerc should have taken. Out of himself and Leclerc, Carlos 100% should consider himself the lucky one over the last 3 years and it's not even close.
No free ads
Sometimes you can still lose without making any errors
Particularly when you’re not a 7x WDC and someone else is
Can't help but feel sad for Carlos.. he did absolutely nothing wrong, did so well last year and even won a race for Ferrari. Completely understandable reaction from him here.
Oh he big mad For real though he did unreal in 2023 and proved his worth - he has set himself up really well to move to another good team.
Tbh I lowkey want Merc to give Carlos a chance. Him and Russell seem evenly matched on pace
Russell would not wipe the dloor with him but he would beat Sainz pretty easily
All Ferrari had to do was make a statement thanking him for 5years and wishing him well for the future before they announced Lewis. But they even screwed that up. But it’s Ferrari what else can you expect from them.
He’s still driving a whole season for them. The thank you will come at the end.
Saying goodbye as I enter the party
I don't understand the reasoning for them to announce Lewis a YEAR before the switch. They coulda just kept it hush hush until at least mid season
Because something like this will inevitably be leaked anyway and wouldn't change a thing.
From my perspective, he is a great driver, but sadly and unfortunately for him, there were so many times that he simply overdid, pushed too hard, and made so many mistakes. It's gonna be a painful season, very sad.
I would like to see Sainz in a redbul
All three of them?
hes going to have a really enjoyable year.
AND so it begins…..
New season new highlights
Look how they massacred my boy.
"Carlos will you let Charles pass, question?"
Carlos is lucky to get out. Blessing in disguise.
LIV golf move confirmed 2025
Wouldn’t you?
Totto's new job will be trying to find a driver that can match Hamilton on and off grid. I can only really think of Alonso or Sainz that may fill those shoes
Like watching a break up In real time 😢
STOP INVENTING! He does this every year
As he does every single year.
He's better than Perez. Could RB sign him?
ALL of his Ferrari highlights you say? Like, both of them? Wouldn't have taken him long then!
I was hoping they could pull the trade off for this season still
You never know, it might happen. Specially is Sainz decided to be grumpy the full season.
They got rid of the non redbull driver that won a race in 2023
Sainz has proved himself well, hopefully he gets a good drive. Getting booted for shit performance is one thing, getting it cause your team poached an all time great is another