Carlos Sainz and shock at start of 2024: "I was 99% sure I would stay with Ferrari"
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The 2024 market 'bomb'
With the 2024 championship now definitively closed, Ferrari gathered at Fiorano on Tuesday to officially bid farewell to Carlos Sainz, a driver who has represented the Scuderia over the past four seasons and who will join Williams in 2025. This move, announced earlier in the season, was a direct consequence of Ferrari's surprising announcement made even before the start of the championship, when the team revealed the agreement reached with Lewis Hamilton for 2025.
A true market 'bomb' that shocked fans and insiders alike, including Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff and Carlos Sainz himself. The Spaniard, in a recent interview on F1's official podcast *Beyond the Grid*, admitted he had been almost entirely certain he would continue his journey at Maranello in 2025, a scenario that will instead not come to pass.
The shock
A decision that caused him pain but ultimately helped him become a better driver: “At the start of the year, I was tested more than I ever had been before, and life put me in a very uncomfortable position,” he admitted. “I was told that I wouldn't continue with the team I was 99% sure I would keep working with over the winter. It was a huge shock to my hopes, and of course, I didn't enjoy that moment. I still trained and prepared for the season, aiming to be ready to win races, to win a championship if the opportunity arose, and I approached that year still full of energy, but obviously in an uncomfortable situation and at an uncomfortable time.
“I remember being very emotional on the podium at the Australian Grand Prix because my father, my manager, my girlfriend, and everyone close to me were there. Of course, I was thinking of my mother. All of them had seen me suffer over the winter, and when I say suffer, I don't mean crying behind closed doors, but I was genuinely hurt because I didn't expect it. I wasn't prepared for that kind of news. I stayed a bit in shock for a while.
“I remember after Australia thinking about how lucky I am to have people around me who support me and give me the inner strength to overcome a difficult time. Now, when I think back on it, I'm almost happy, proud that it happened, because it made me a better driver and a better athlete overall.”
Still a future at Maranello?
The new challenge for Carlos Sainz is the one awaiting him in 2025 at the wheel of the Williams, but the four-time Grand Prix winner hasn't ruled out a potential return to Ferrari in the future if the opportunity arises: “Yes, why not? I don't see why not,” he concluded. “At the same time, I don't see how it could happen anytime soon, but life is long. I'm 30, but in F1, you see drivers at 42. So, if I were to stay in F1 that long, who's to say that in the next 10 years, Ferrari might not need me again? This doesn't mean I'm hoping for it or looking forward to such things happening. Right now, I have a very big goal in mind, which is to help Williams get back to the top of the championship, but I don't think about it too much.”
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