Carlos Sainz spent four years alongside Charles Leclerc at Ferrari before Lewis Hamilton arrived. There were occasional moments of tension, but they broadly collaborated well.

Lewis Hamilton 'not like Carlos Sainz' as Ferrari make 'naive' admission

Jacques Villeneuve thinks Ferrari are missing Sainz, and while it’s difficult to say how much of their 2025 drop-off may be down to his departure, the intra-team head-to-head has certainly been more one-sided.

 

Sainz finished ahead of Leclerc in eight of the 21 races that both drivers completed last season. This year, Hamilton has only done so in three of the first 18.

Hamilton is consistently close to (though rarely ahead of) Leclerc in qualifying, but overall, he may not be pushing the Monegasque as hard as his predecessor. That’s even before one considers whether the publicity and scrutiny the superstar signing has brought to the team has had a positive effect.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc aren’t aligned on Ferrari car issues

Charles Leclerc issues response as Lewis Hamilton tells Ferrari to 'change driver'

According to MARCA, both Leclerc and Hamilton agree on Ferrari’s problems. However, they disagree on how to fix them.

By contrast, Sainz and Leclerc were broadly aligned on car set-up. That meant that the work that the Spaniard did behind the scenes benefited both drivers.

This adds to the overall impression that Ferrari’s new-for-2025 driver pairing ‘isn’t as well-matched’ as what came before. Leclerc may be missing the Sainz years in that respect, even if he outwardly gets on well with Hamilton.

Hamilton has sent feedback documents to Ferrari in an attempt to reshape the team in his own image. Some at Maranello ‘resented’ this move, suggesting that they may be more inclined to listen to lead driver Leclerc, who was signed in 2019.

What does Carlos Sainz think of Ferrari’s 2025 struggles?

Speaking in June, Sainz expressed sympathy for Hamilton. He said that the seven-time world champion has shown how difficult it is to adapt to a new team.

Sainz has made five moves in his F1 career and has carved out an upward trajectory at Williams this season after struggling at first.

He thought that Ferrari would fight for the title after he left, but was keen to give world champions McLaren credit rather than criticising his old team.

“Given where we left it at the end of last year, for sure, I thought going into this year, the team was ready to fight for the world championship and keep winning races,” he said in September.

“But it shows that F1 is such a tough sport. More than Ferrari moving back or anything, I think McLaren have done a quality step that is very impressive and has caught everyone by surprise.

“If you see the rest, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari are still more or less where they were at the end of last season, and it’s been McLaren who have suddenly moved up.”