Carlos Sainz opened up on the timeline of negotiations which ultimately resulted in Ferrari dropping him for Lewis Hamilton.<\/p>\n
A decision which left him \u201ccompletely shocked\u201d, Sainz revealed that is was actually a friend of his who called to tell him Ferrari were not renewing his contract, with seven-time World Champion Hamilton<\/a> signed as his future replacement.<\/p>\n Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari: Right call to replace Carlos Sainz?<\/p>\n It was a decision made by Ferrari before the 2024 campaign got underway, meaning Sainz, and Hamilton at Mercedes, both had to contest the full season knowing it would be their last with their respective teams.<\/p>\n In an appearance on the High Performance podcast, Sainz gave a detailed recollection of his negotiations with Ferrari, explaining how he went from certainty that his future was in Maranello, to suddenly finding out he needed to find a new team, as Hamilton was on his way.<\/p>\n Sainz subsequently agreed a multi-year deal with Williams.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think it was around end of January or February,\u201d Sainz began. \u201cI was in the middle of my training preparation for the 2024 season, I was hopeful that the Ferrari was going to be a competitive car. I had done everything in December and January, obviously, to prepare myself for that season.<\/p>\n \u201cContract negotiations with Ferrari were a bit stalled in a weird way, because we were talking since October to renew my contract. They kept postponing the point of signing and the point of coming to an agreement.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I never felt suspicious, and I never felt like it was not going to happen, because every feedback that I was getting was, \u2018We\u2019re going to continue, for sure, this is just going to take only a couple hours to agree to the economics side of things and the two or three things we need to agree on on your future contract. But it\u2019s going to be an easy contract, and we will do it very quickly.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Okay, okay.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cSo I just went into the winter with that mentality of it will get sorted before race one of the \u201924 season.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd suddenly, in the middle of January, end of January, I receive a phone call, and they suddenly tell me the news. I heard from a friend that called me.<\/p>\n \u201cI was completely shocked. I went from believing I was going to be in Ferrari for a while, to suddenly, Lewis is replacing me, and \u2018What am I going to do now.\u2019 It never occurred to me that that could happen, and it was a bit shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n Sainz was linked with almost every team on the grid \u2013 including Red Bull and Mercedes \u2013 before joining Williams, the Spaniard delivering an impressive campaign which yielded two grand prix wins, taking his F1 career tally to four.<\/p>\n Sainz believes that shock to the system delivered by Ferrari unlocked a new level in him.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it took me a good week to accept it and to assimilate it,\u201d Sainz continued. \u201cYou never get too much of a reaction from me. I\u2019m, I think, quite level-headed in that sense.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that gave me a bit of a kick, and I think it made me a better athlete, a better driver. And what came out of me in March, April, May, was probably a best version of myself as a racing driver to date.\u201d<\/p>\n Latest F1 2025 head-to-head standings from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n