Ferrari told they’ve made a mistake with Lewis Hamilton as problem ‘messing everything up’
Lewis Hamilton will replace Carlos Sainz at Ferrari next season, despite having 10 years on the Spaniard and having made a poor start to the current season with Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton has made a poor start to the season (
Image: Getty Images)
By
Felix KeithSports Reporter
|
Ferrari have made a huge mistake by ditching Carlos Sainz to sign Lewis Hamilton next season, according to former Formula 1 driver Christian Danner.
Hamilton announced in February that he was jumping ship to Ferrari for the 2025 season, bringing to an end 12 seasons at Mercedes. He will become Charles Leclerc’s team-mate at the Italian team, where he will take the seat currently occupied by Sainz.
The decision has cast a shadow over the 2024 season, which has become interesting, with Sainz performing impressively so far. The Spaniard won the Australian Grand Prix and finished third in Bahrain, despite undergoing surgery to remove his appendix, which saw him replaced by Oliver Bearman in Saudi Arabia.
He sits fourth in the standings, while Hamilton is way down in 10th, having claimed just eight points across the races in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia. Hamilton is 10 years older than Sainz and will turn 40 in January – and Danner isn’t sure Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has made the right call.
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“If you want Hamilton, you’ve kept the wrong one because he (Sainz) is faster, but that’s highly political,” he told MotorsportMagazin. “He (Vasseur) should have waited a little longer. It wasn’t a necessity. I wouldn’t blame Lewis for stumbling at the moment, but one thing is clear.
“Sainz in this kind of form, when he has Leclerc under control like this, you can say that he (Vasseur) perhaps made his decision too early. Sainz is approaching it with a commitment, a joy and an aggressiveness. I really like that. It also requires a fervent attitude: ‘Now it’s me and no one else’.
“You can see it not only in his eyes but in every corner and at the moment, Carlos Sainz is messing everything up at Ferrari. First of all, you’ve signed the wrong driver for next year. Hamilton is behind, he (Sainz) is much better.”
Carlos Sainz won’t have a shortage of offers for the 2025 season (
Image:
Getty Images)
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Ferrari have stuck with Carlos Sainz? Comment below.
Sainz’s situation is particularly eye-catching because Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has also name-checked him, alongside George Russell, Fernando Alonso and Andrea Kimi Antonelli as possibilities to replace Hamilton. He said: “[Russell] is having that seat, he’s been part of our junior programme for a long time. The reason why is because he’s great, so it’s about the second seat.
“I think it depends also on what Max does. Then we have a young kid (Antonelli) that is very promising and I don’t want to put more extra pressure on him, but it looks like he can be one of the great ones. But we also don’t want to drown him by jumping so quickly in an F1 car at 17.
“So there are a few options that we can play with him. Obviously, there’s Fernando who is very exciting, and Carlos is very good. So there are a few ones. I’m going to make the play like a bride – difficult to get!”
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