Why Sainz did not ‘tear Ferrari apart’ after signing Lewis Hamilton

Fortunately for Ferrari, the “demon” in Carlos Sainz did not win the battle when they decided to sign Lewis Hamilton.

In a deal finalised before the 2024 campaign even began, Ferrari signed seven-time World Champion Hamilton to a multi-year deal from F1 2025 – at Sainz’s expense – but while one internal voice was telling Sainz “tear Ferrari apart” for this, the “angel” won the battle in that final season with the team.

Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari: Carlos Sainz ‘demon’ did not get its wish

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Sainz drove all 24 rounds of last season knowing he was to be replaced at Ferrari by Hamilton, but that did not bring about a drop in form, quite the opposite, the Spaniard winning two grands prix to take his overall F1 victory tally to four, as he subsequently penned multi-year terms with Williams.

It was a season which saw Ferrari take McLaren all the way to a Constructors’ title decider in Abu Dhabi, but the thought of bringing Ferrari down, rather than continuing to build the team up, came to mind.

“I understand how a driver with a big ego would maybe just like to tear Ferrari apart that year and maybe become a bit political or become a bit of an infection inside the team,” Sainz admitted on the High Performance podcast.

Asked if such an approach truly came to mind, Sainz clarified: “Of course. My demon – we all have an angel and a demon – and the demon was like, ‘There are so many things I would like to say or do or change.’

“But my angel was more powerful at that time and said, ‘No, don’t be that guy, be the professional guy, be the guy that’s just going to give absolutely everything until the last race for this team, and give everyone that has nothing to do with that decision… I owe them my maximum professional level and a good year for the team, for myself, for everyone.

“I’m going to be the professional guy, the good guy, not the one that wants to set this place on fire.”

Latest F1 2025 head-to-head standings from PlanetF1.com

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? F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

While Sainz’s final Ferrari season had some questioning why the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes had not acquired his services, the first season with Williams is proving a challenging task, Sainz having scored just 13 points to team-mate Alex Albon’s 46.

However, luck has not been on his side recently. In Austria, Sainz was unable to take the start after getting stuck in first gear, before the rear brakes caught fire in the pit lane, while at Silverstone, points went out the window after a whack from former Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.

“It was going well,” Sainz told the media, including PlanetF1.com as he reflected on the incident. “I feel like the whole year so far we were doing everything right. The strategy goals, good driving. P7, P8 at the time.

“Ten laps to go when I was fighting with Charles, I think he was on his out lap on the slicks. He lost control of the car and crashed into me. And that was it.

“I went back to P12 with a damaged car, and I finished P12. Again, very unlucky.

“A bit fed up with this situation where always something happens to us that is out of our control. No offence to Charles, this always can happen to any driver.

“Just upset with the fact that it happened to me again when we were about to have a clean weekend and a clean race.”

Ultimately crossing the line P12, Sainz concluded: “For me at P12 it’s like retiring.”

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