Juan Pablo Montoya explains the ‘biggest difference’ between Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz in 2025

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Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton have had their own respective struggles in 2025, but Juan Pablo Montoya has shared the ‘biggest difference’ between their campaigns, which has seen Sainz improve and Hamilton regress.

The Qatar Grand Prix saw Carlos Sainz secure his second podium of the season for his new team at Williams, whilst Lewis Hamilton languished outside of the points-paying positions in another disappointing performance at Ferrari.

Sainz is still the most recent Ferrari driver to win a Grand Prix despite leaving the team at the end of last season.

The Scuderia have struggled immensely in 2025 across several fronts, and they are the only team within F1’s ‘big four’ to have not had a driver stand on the top step of the podium this season.

Hamilton’s year can be summed up by his lack of a podium altogether. The seven-time world champion has just one race remaining to save his current F1 record of securing a top-three finish in every single one of his 18 previous seasons.

• READ MORE: Carlos Sainz would have been a better Ferrari driver than Lewis Hamilton in 2025 for one clear reason

Juan Pablo Montoya explains the differences between Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton’s 2025 F1 season

Following Sainz’s podium celebrations in Lusail, Juan Pablo Montoya offered his opinion on the difference between the Spaniard’s year when compared to his Ferrari replacement on F1’s post-race show.

The former F1 driver, who left the sport the season before Hamilton’s rookie year, said, “I think what Carlos has done is, he’s been very patient.

“The biggest difference between what Lewis is living and what Carlos is living, Williams is in a rebuilding phase. They know they have work to do.

“They understand that they’re not where they want to be, and they’re putting all the different processes in place to make it better.

“Carlos is very technical and is very, very… everything he does is meticulous, like in engineers’ meetings, he wants everything to be perfect, and as you hear him today, he said just everything was perfect, everything was executed.

“Whereas for Lewis, everything is like, ‘We know what we’re doing, we have our way of doing things, and our way of doing things works.’ The end result is this.”

Since arriving in Maranello, Hamilton has been unable to replicate Sainz’s technical input in engineering meetings, as alluded to by Montoya.

It is understood that the Spaniard’s expertise played a key role behind the scenes at Ferrari, and their lack of a fix to the struggles experienced by the Scuderia can be attributed to his lack of presence.

• READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton is doing something at Ferrari that will make Charles Leclerc miss Carlos Sainz

Should Ferrari have kept Carlos Sainz instead of signing Lewis Hamilton?

Given the fact that Sainz has been able to secure two podium finishes in his first season at the midfield Williams outfit means that questions have arisen over Ferrari’s signing of Hamilton to replace him.

The seven-time world champion has come under fire for some of the results he has recorded thus far in 2025 and has even felt the wrath of Ferrari chairman John Elkann.

With both drivers in the same boat this year, Sainz has sided with Hamilton after being asked whether he takes some pride from seeing his former team struggle without him.

The Spaniard was also asked whether he would consider a move back to Maranello in the future, providing the iconic Italian racing outfit came calling.

Sainz said that he would answer Ferrari’s call, but made it clear that he would only consider the move ‘in the distant future’.