Carlos Sainz has recalled the timeline that culminated in him learning about the “shocking” news that he was losing his seat in Formula 1 with Ferrari through a friend.
Sainz, who bagged Ferrari’s sole win in 2023, had been in discussions to renew his contract when he was told that the team had agreed a deal to sign Lewis Hamilton.
With Charles Leclerc having sealed a long-term extension less than a month earlier, Sainz was guaranteed to be the one departing to permit Hamilton’s arrival in 2025.
But while he disclosed that conversations with Ferrari had slowed leading up to that moment, the Spaniard harboured no inclination that he would not retain his place.
Sainz divulged that he had been assured an agreement would be reached, until an individual in his inner circle alerted him that 2024 would be his last year with Ferrari.
“I think it was around end of January or February,” Sainz recounted on the High Performance podcast.
“I was in the middle of my training preparation for the 2024 season, I was hopeful that the Ferrari was going to be a competitive car. I had done everything in December and January, obviously, to prepare myself for that season.
“Contract negotiations with Ferrari were a bit stalled in a weird way, because we were talking since October to renew my contract. They kept postponing the point of signing and the point of coming to an agreement.
“But I never felt suspicious and I never felt like it was not going to happen, because every feedback that I was getting was, ‘We’re going to continue, for sure, this is just going to take only a couple hours to agree to the economics side of things and the two or three things we need to agree on your future contract. But it’s going to be an easy contract, and we will do it very quickly.’
“And I was like, ‘Okay, okay.’ So I just went into the winter with that mentality of it will get sorted before race one of the ’24 season.
“And suddenly, in the middle of January, end of January, I receive a phone call and they suddenly tell me the news. I heard from a friend that called me.
“I was completely shocked. I went from believing I was going to be in Ferrari for a while, to suddenly Lewis is replacing me, and ‘What am I going to do now.’
“It never occurred to me that that could happen, and it was a bit shocking.”
Sainz believes Ferrari bombshell inspired ‘best version’
Sainz provided an admirable response to the news as he secured three podiums – including a win in Australia – over the opening three races that he contested in 2024.
“It took me a good week to accept it and to assimilate it,” Sainz continued. “You never get too much of a reaction from me. I think I’m quite level-headed in that sense.
“But that gave me a bit of a kick and I think it made me a better athlete, a better driver.
“And what came out of me in March, April, May was probably a best version of myself as a racing driver to date.”
Having been overlooked to remain at the sharp end with Mercedes and Red Bull, Sainz turned down Alpine and Sauber/Audi’s approaches to sign a deal with Williams.
READ MORE – Carlos Sainz ‘doesn’t understand’ Red Bull’s reluctance to pair him with Max Verstappen
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