Carlos Sainz believes he’s heading into the most important years of his career and wants to ensure his next move gives him title opportunities after being surprised by Ferrari’s decision to replace him with Lewis Hamilton.
The Spaniard is out of contract at the end of this season and had been hoping to secure a new deal before the shock news that Hamilton will join in 2025 was announced at the start of February. Sainz says he’s not in a rush to finalize a move to another team, because he feels he’s heading into his prime as a driver.
“As much as I said I wanted to get my future sorted before the first race, now the scenario has changed quite a bit, as you can imagine,” Sainz said. “It is going to be probably a longer process ahead of me. Probably my most important three or four years of my career, where I want to make sure I’m in the right place at the right time, I want to make sure I pick the right next destination for me so I want to take my time to think about it, to listen to all the options, have a look at all the options. Then I can just feel calm that when I take the decision I have given myself enough time with enough information.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
“Having said that, it is impossible to separate one thing from the other. I have a good management team that also will take care of that. so my focus will be Bahrain and I’m going to start the year as strong as I can, putting all my effort into being quick straight from the go. The other thing will sort itself out as time goes by.”
Sainz admitted he was surprised when told by Ferrari that Hamilton would be taking his seat, even if he was made aware before the news came out.
“I think obviously a bit of a surprise, like everyone in the Formula 1 world, with the news,” he said. “I think everyone was surprised in a way with what happened. From my side, you can obviously understand that I got to know the news a bit earlier than anyone else, but it’s true then I said some weeks to reflect, some weeks to prepare, and 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, to take your own conclusions, and to focus on the 2024 season that is ahead. But the fact that it was a bit of a surprise to the whole Formula 1 world is no news, and it was obviously also [a surprise] for me.”
Despite not having a contract in place for 2025, Sainz insisted that he doesn’t see this season as a significant chance to impress potential suitors, because he believes his previous performances speak for themselves.
“Honestly speaking, I don’t think I need a new season to prove that or to show to anyone,” he said. “I’ve [spent] nine years in F1 and by nine years, and especially the last three being at a team like Ferrari, everyone has seen more or less what I’m capable of.
“Obviously a new year, new opportunity, hopefully a better car, a more performing car that allows us to – especially in the races – shine a bit more than we did last year. Because definitely last year in the races, we were struggling a bit more than in quali, and with a better race car we can do some better races, some better strategy, some better tire management, some better overtakes – last year I was having to defending my position a lot and I did a lot of good defending, but not enough good overtaking. So I’m looking forward to that and what we can extract from the car this year.”