This is how Carlos Sainz got over 'Ferrari dumping' moment in February
F1 News
In February, the breaking news came that Lewis Hamilton would be moving to Ferrari for 2025. With this, it meant one of the drivers had to go. Speaking on the Spanish TV show El Hormiguero, Carlos Sainz revealed how the team made way for the Mercedes driver, and what this now means for him.
Sainz is yet to reveal where he will be heading for 2025. He has been heavily linked to both Williams and Audi but nothing is confirmed yet. Speaking on the show, the Spaniard shared how he took the news when Ferrari told him he would be replaced for the following season: "Obviously you don't take it well," he said. "No one likes being told that they don't want to be kept on. No one likes being dumped. They dumped me in February, and obviously I felt bad."
"I started the year very well, I started the year winning, but yes, there was a seven-time world champion called Lewis Hamilton who wanted to come to Ferrari and they have made room for him in Ferrari, and against that, well, you can't."
'I still want to be world champion'
Hamilton will be paired alongside current Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who joined the team in 2019. Despite being replaced, Sainz still remains optimistic. This season, he won the Melbourne Grand Prix, after having his appendix removed and missing the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix two weeks before. He was also the only other non-Red Bull Racing driver to win a race in 2023, where he won the Singapore Grand Prix. This season, Ferrari sit second in the Constructors behind the Austrian team.
Nevertheless, Sainz looks to the future: "I take it philosophically and try to accept it in the best way possible," he shared. "I also see it as an opportunity in the future too. Other opportunities will come up, other moments will come up. I still want to be world champion, I still want to win races and go for it, we have to go get it," the Spaniard concluded.