Carlos Sainz says Lewis Hamilton is now seeing what he had to deal with vs Charles Leclerc

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Carlos Sainz has praised the resilience of Charles Leclerc after his former Ferrari teammate won the British Grand Prix last time out.

Leclerc had one of his toughest stretches as a Ferrari driver in the run-up to Silverstone, scoring just four points in three race weekends. While his mechanical retirement in Barcelona was unfortunate, he was also making mistakes (including two session-ending crashes).

Suddenly lagging behind teammate Lewis Hamilton, he admitted that he lost his way. Leclerc tried to copy Hamilton’s formula before realising that the best approach was to stay true to his driving style.

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Carlos Sainz has ‘always’ known that Charles Leclerc would bounce back

During their partnership (2021-24), Sainz never beat Leclerc in more than three consecutive races.

Hamilton’s streak had reached five before Silverstone, which was Leclerc’s worst run since the Sebastian Vettel days in 2019.

“I’ve always told everyone that one of Charles’ greatest characteristics is his ability to bounce back,” Williams driver Sainz explained after the British GP, via DAZN.

“I remember that when I was ahead of him for a few races and we beat him for three or four weekends in a row, he always managed to recover and fight back.

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“I think it’s a very good statistic on his part, that he’s able to find solutions and recover. I think that’s exactly what he’s done this weekend.”

Leclerc remains 39 points behind Hamilton in the standings heading into the Belgian Grand Prix, but after his first victory since the 2024 US GP, talk that Ferrari need to introduce a driver hierarchy has died down.

Hamilton is still leading the unlikely pursuit of Mercedes in the championship, but Leclerc is arguably too close to justify team orders.

Vasseur and Leclerc have a close bond, and the Ferrari team principal was always confident that the loss of form would be temporary, having managed him since the start of 2023.

Sainz remains the only driver to outscore Leclerc in equal machinery over a full season, having done so in 2021.