Carlos Sainz shares why he’s ‘glad’ to still be Ferrari’s last Grand Prix winner after Williams move

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Ferrari kicked Carlos Sainz out to make room for Lewis Hamilton to join in the 2025 F1 season, yet the now Williams driver still remains their most recent Grand Prix winner.

The Scuderia confirmed in February 2024 that Hamilton had agreed to leave Mercedes from 2025, shortly after the team also handed Charles Leclerc a new contract through 2029. So, Sainz had to endure an awkward farewell tour in 2024 until his contract with Ferrari expired.

Ferrari decided it was better for their interests to let Sainz leave at the end of his contract to sign seven-time champion Hamilton than it would have been to re-sign the Spaniard, as well as Leclerc. Williams eventually won the race to sign Sainz for the 2025 season in July 2024.

Williams beat interest from Audi and Alpine to sign Sainz on an initial two-year contract that also includes options through 2027 and 2028. Williams team principal James Vowles made it abundantly clear that he wanted Sainz to be Alex Albon’s teammate once he hit the market.

Carlos Sainz feels ‘good’ being Ferrari’s most recent Grand Prix winner 56 weeks after his last victory

It can also be argued that Williams got the better end of the deal, as Sainz finished P3 in the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix while Hamilton has yet to get a podium as a Ferrari driver. Sainz is also still Ferrari’s most recent Grand Prix winner, as they have endured a 23-race drought.

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Sainz won the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix for his fourth career victory, all with Ferrari, after controlling the race from pole position once he regained on Lap 9/71. And Sainz now admits that he feels “good” that he is still Ferrari’s most recent F1 Grand Prix winner after 56 weeks.

“Oh,” Sainz said sheepishly when asked by a fan at a Williams event in Las Vegas. He added: “Good. But, at the same time, honestly, I wish Ferrari, Charles, Lewis [and] everyone there the best. And even if they were winning this year, I would be happy for them.

“I left a lot of good friends there. I honestly thought this year, they could be winning races and even the championship when I left. They must have been going through some tough moments, and I don’t wish anyone tough moments at all.

“But it’s good. I am glad that I took the chance when I had it, because Mexico last year was one of my last chances to win a race, for sure, in the near future. I did it, and I just take pride from that.”

Carlos Sainz won the 2024 F1 Mexico City GP for Ferrari before joining Williams in 2025

Sainz won the 2024 F1 Mexico City GP in October of last year during round 20 of 24 amid his Ferrari farewell tour ahead of joining Williams in 2025. It was the fourth win of the 31-year-old’s career, as well as his 25th of 28 podiums to date – of which he secured 25 with Ferrari.

READ MORE: The best moments of Carlos Sainz’s career in Formula 1

The Madrid native took his final rostrums for the pride of Italy with P3 in the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix and P2 in the 2024 season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Leclerc joined Sainz on the podium at Yas Marina last December in P3, and has since taken seven podiums in 2025.

Leclerc boasts all seven of Ferrari’s podiums in 2025, and he has scored 214 points to edge Hamilton’s 148 for fifth and sixth place in the F1 drivers’ championship. Sainz sits in P13 with 38 points and Williams’ only podium since 2021, but he trails teammate Albon in P8 with 73.

Also, Sainz took P3 in the COTA Sprint at the 2025 F1 United States Grand Prix to take home a second trophy in his first campaign for the Grove crew. Hamilton won the China F1 Sprint back in March during only his second outing for Ferrari and also got P3 in the Miami Sprint.