1997 Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve predicts Carlos Sainz won’t abide by the “team’s game” after Ferrari opted to replace him with Lewis Hamilton for next year.
The Spaniard, who replaced four-time champion Sebastian Vettel in 2021, had expressed that he could envisage spending the remainder of his F1 career with Ferrari.
However, Ferrari announced on Thursday that it had reached an agreement with Lewis Hamilton on a multi-year deal that will see the Briton arrive from the 2025 season.
Sainz became collateral damage from Ferrari’s successful pursuit of the Briton, with the Italian marque having confirmed last week that Charles Leclerc had renewed.
Despite logging the sole non-Red Bull win last term, Sainz, who has been linked with a switch to Sauber ahead of its evolution into Audi, will now be looking for a new drive.
“He is the big loser in this situation because his bargaining power, with Audi or anyone else, is obviously much less,” Villeneuve told Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Sainz will have no interest in playing the team’s games. Ferrari’s results for him now count for zero, the only thing that will count will be his results.
“He has to [produce] them for his 2025 contract. Possibly trying to beat Leclerc.
“See how Mercedes will handle the confrontation between [George] Russell and Hamilton. And how it will work between Leclerc and Sainz, who now has nothing left to lose.”
Meanwhile, like Martin Brundle, Villeneuve believes that F1’s most successful team and driver becoming aligned will prove to be a positive partnership for everyone concerned.
“It is good news for all of us,” the Canadian added regarding Hamilton’s bombshell.
“It is unexpected, indeed, and exciting. It gets people talking. You can’t imagine anything more: the greatest team of all time with the most successful driver.
“For Ferrari it is an incredible image operation, in a positive sense. And on Hamilton’s part, it’s a great move.”
Ferrari has become the second team on the current grid to confirm its driver line-up for 2025 after McLaren managed to pen down both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Therefore, a return to the Woking-based squad is not an option for Sainz, but he could end up as a viable option for Mercedes as it begins the search for Hamilton’s successor.
Red Bull will have a spot alongside reigning World Champion Max Verstappen available next season; however, Spanish newspaper Marca has ruled out that being a possibility.
Sainz was a member of the Red Bull Junior Team and progressed into F1 with the Austrian outfit’s second-string squad, known then as Toro Rosso, alongside Verstappen.
But Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has revealed that the relationship between the pair’s respective camps became “quite toxic” and led to Sainz departing late in 2018.
Sainz had rubbished reports linking him with a move to Sauber before its transition into a works Audi entry in 2026, but that is now more likely to be a move that he considers.
Discussion about this post