Carlos Sainz has expressed that Ferrari’s chances of winning the championship in Formula 1 in 2025 have “only increased” with Lewis Hamilton’s presence in the team.
Hamilton is preparing to embark upon his debut campaign with Ferrari, having made the decision to exit Mercedes and take the place that Sainz had occupied since 2021.
Sainz, who has gone to Williams, admitted that his Ferrari departure was bitter as he senses the Italian marque is in good shape to have a crack at the title this season.
The Spaniard came close to helping Ferrari end its protracted championship drought last time around, but the team came up 14 points short against McLaren in the end.
Ferrari is hoping that Hamilton’s experience as a seven-time F1 champion will inspire the team to go one better across the upcoming season, the final one with the current cars.
But despite his vast previous success, there has been scepticism about how Hamilton, now 40, will get on at Ferrari amid the struggles he endured at Mercedes last year.
Asked to assess how well he thinks his successor will do at Ferrari, Sainz told media including Motorsport Week at Williams’ 2025 launch event: “Honestly, I don’t know.
“I’ve never been team-mates with Lewis so I don’t know what he’s capable of doing. I’ve never seen his data.
“I’ve seen Charles [Leclerc] and I know how good Charles is, but I’ve never been team-mate with Lewis and the only way you can more or less evaluate purely a driver is when you’re their team-mate and you see what they’re capable of doing.”
Sainz backs Hamilton to enhance Ferrari title bid
Sainz, though, believes there is a “high chance” that Hamilton will hit the ground running at Ferrari to have a positive impact on the Maranello-based squad’s title prospects.
“When I judge by results and his background and what he’s achieved, I can only say there’s a very high chance that obviously he’s going to be competitive in Ferrari,” he added.
“But, like everything, it will all depend on how well you can adapt to a car, how well you can adapt to a team and in which moment is your team-mate in.
“There are so many variables that it’s impossible for me to predict, but I can only say when I left Ferrari, I did feel the team, both Ferrari and Charles, were ready to fight for a World Championship. With Lewis joining, that chance is only going to increase.”
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