Journalist shares how Carlos Sainz reacted to rumours Lewis Hamilton could join Ferrari

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Journalist Jesus Balseiro has shared how Carlos Sainz reacted to the rumours Lewis Hamilton could join Ferrari next season.

Diario AS journalist Balseiro was on the F1 Nation Podcast discussing the Spanish driver’s future.

After such a promising Saturday in qualifying, Carlos Sainz couldn’t convert his second-place start into a podium.

He fell behind Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Sergio Perez to finish in fifth place.

Sainz will be particularly disappointed to have finished behind the two Mercedes, especially Russell who started 10 places behind him.

A few weeks ago, Hamilton was linked with Ferrari and potentially replacing Sainz at the Italian team.

Hamilton confirmed after Sunday’s race that he was due to sit down with Mercedes to discuss a new deal.

His current contract runs out at the end of the season although he now looks less likely to consider his options elsewhere.

How Sainz reacted to Hamilton to Ferrari rumours

Asked if Sainz dealt with the Hamilton rumours, Balseiro said: “He takes it easy, he’s used to Formula 1, he has been on both sides [of those conversations].

“He has lost a season at Renault too with [Daniel] Ricciardo so he knows how Formula 1 goes.

“But he seemed comfortable all the time during these last weeks from the first time it looked like Lewis [Hamilton] is just negotiating with Mercedes and this was maybe part of the negotiation.

“It’s good that this is coming to an end and it’s also good that Carlos is proving on track that he deserves the place he is.

“We shouldn’t forget that Charles [Leclerc] is a superb driver, with one lap race pace and Carlos for one reason or another was doing well here in Barcelona, he was doing better than Charles and he’s in front in the championship.

“It’s a bad season for the two of them but Carlos isn’t doing anything wrong.”

Right now, Ferrari aren’t in a good enough position for Hamilton to want to replace Sainz next season.

Mercedes outperformed Ferrari last weekend and are currently 52 points clear of them in the Constructors’ Championship.

Barcelona particularly suited the Mercedes car and so the legendary Italian team will hope to close that gap as the season progresses.

However, Mercedes’s latest upgrade package looks to have seen them leapfrog Aston Martin on the grid.

Ferrari need to act fast to stay in the fight to be second-best this season.