Carlos Sainz’s reservations about Ferrari last season are now coming back to haunt Lewis Hamilton in 2025

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One person in the Formula 1 paddock will be looking on at what’s happening at Ferrari with some particular interest.

Lewis Hamilton made the switch to join Ferrari from Mercedes during the winter break as he looked to win a record-breaking eighth drivers’ championship with the sport’s most iconic team.

He joins Charles Leclerc at the Scuderia this season, with Carlos Sainz the man who missed out to make space for the 40-year-old.

Hamilton’s move to Ferrari came out of the blue and was announced before the 2024 F1 season started, but Sainz’s future took months to sort out.

The Spaniard had offers from half of the grid but ended up at Williams, and James Vowles’ team have ended up being the best of the rest this year.

Sainz has been marginally behind teammate Alex Albon in 2025, but the difficulties Ferrari are facing far outweigh what’s going on at his new team.

Fred Vasseur’s team came so close to winning the constructors’ championship last season with Sainz and Leclerc at the helm, but have fallen a long way back this season.

Sainz’s win in Mexico City was almost perfect, but journalist Edd Straw believes he already had reservations about the direction the team were going in.

Now, it would be interesting to see whether the Spaniard would have spotted the team’s mistakes earlier than Hamilton, given his prior knowledge of the car.

READ MORE: Williams star Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height

Carlos Sainz had reservations about Ferrari’s development before disappointing start to 2025

Straw was speaking on The Race F1 Podcast about Ferrari’s current issues and explained: “One of the interesting things we saw with those two drivers, Leclerc and Sainz, is that Leclerc, basically, you can put him in the car and you can pretty much drive anything as long as it’s not understeery.

“But he mitigates the understeer problem with the way he brakes, etc. But he’s quite happy being chucked into a very stiff car, and he’ll make it work.

“Sainz was never quite so happy with that; he wanted it a bit more compliant, and he had reservations, actually, about the development direction that was being taken by Ferrari even before Spain.

“I’m led to believe he felt that had his feedback been taken on board a little bit more, they maybe could have even avoided going down that cul-de-sac. They didn’t need to go that way and then readjust.

“So, that kind of illustrates what he’s bringing. I’m not saying they’d be winning championships if Sainz were still there this year, that’s not what we’re saying, but it’s just the kind of toolkit you’ve got.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Williams benefiting from Carlos Sainz’s feedback after Ferrari move

One of the reasons Vowles was so invested in hiring Sainz was because of his ability to improve the teams around him.

Williams are the fifth constructor Sainz has driven for in Formula 1, and each of the previous four have improved their position in the championship after his arrival.

Sainz was impressed with Williams’ work ethic immediately after he arrived at the team for the post-season test in Abu Dhabi.

Williams have quickly responded to Sainz’s feedback, and while it’s Albon scoring the majority of the team’s points this year, both drivers appear to be in tune with what’s required to take the next step forward.

Hamilton has been quick to talk to Ferrari about what he wants from the car, but the Scuderia seem to be more set in their ways than their competitors.

It’s a balancing act between what the driver wants and the data the team are working with that, Ferrari haven’t found the right approach just yet.