Carlos Sainz quizzed about Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari arrival and ‘25 Mercedes hope

Carlos Sainz has confirmed that he was made aware that Lewis Hamilton would be replacing him for the 2025 F1 season well in advance of the official announcement earlier this month.

Sainz is without a drive for next year with Hamilton joining Ferrari from Mercedes in a seismic move for the sport next season.

The decision to replace Sainz was not entirely down to performance given the Spaniard claimed Ferrari’s only victory of the 2023 F1 season at the Singapore Grand Prix and was only narrowly out-scored by teammate Charles Leclerc.

Ferrari are the latest F1 team to unveil their new challenger ahead of the 2024 season - the SF-24 - with both drivers conducting a shake down at Maranello on Tuesday.

Following the launch of their new car, Sainz spoke to select media including Crash.net, giving his reaction to Hamilton taking his place at Ferrari and whether Mercedes are his best option in terms of finding a competitive race drive for next year.

“I think it was a bit of a surprise for everyone in the F1 world with the news. I think everyone was surprised in a way with what happened," Sainz said.

“From my side, you can obviously understand that I got to know the news a bit earlier than anyone else but it’s true I had some weeks to reflect, some weeks to prepare, some weeks to also get ready for the car launch, for the first race of the season so it gives you a bit of time to digest it, take your own conclusions and to focus on the 2024 season that is ahead.

“The fact that it was a bit of a surprise to the whole Formula 1 world is no news and it was obviously also for me.”

Even though Sainz’s journey with Ferrari comes to an end this year, he’s proud of what he’s achieved with the Italian team and believes there’s “going to be good things coming” in the future.

“Well first of all I feel very privileged to be part of Ferrari and still having a year ahead - that will be a total of four years as a Scuderia Ferrari driver,” he added.

“I think when you’re a Ferrari driver you can go to every team from now on having been in Ferrari, a Ferrari driver. It does good to any driver on the grid. If on top of that, you add the fact that I have won races for Ferrari, I made pole positions, I’ve made podiums.

“I think I’ve helped this team to move forward up the grid. My overall feeling of these four years is definitely positive. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for me because I am sure there’s going to be good things coming.”