From idol to F1 rival: Carlos Sainz on the change in how he views Lewis Hamilton

Carlos Sainz has detailed how he gone from idolising Lewis Hamilton to viewing him solely as a competitor.

The Williams driver spoke warmly about seven-time world champion Hamilton, who took his seat at Ferrari for the 2025 season after finishing a blockbuster change from Mercedes over the winter. 

That left Sainz and not using a drive, however after receiving a number of presents for 2025, the Spaniard joined Williams.

Sainz was nonetheless karting and watching F1 when Hamilton gained his first world title with McLaren in 2008. Quick ahead 17 years and Sainz is now going head-to-head with the 40-year-old Briton.

Sainz admitted he can now not view Hamilton as an idol as a result of aggressive nature of F1.

“For me, actually, it’s as a result of he’s my competitor, but when I weren’t in F1, he can be one among my idols,” Sainz instructed Radio 1 Breakfast with Greg James.

“After I was 10 years outdated is when he arrived in Method 1 and he turned world champion in 2008. I used to be 12 years outdated, and that’s once I began watching Method 1, when he was racing Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and everybody.

“He was once one among my idols and one of many folks that I appeared as much as, however now he’s one among my opponents, 10, 15 years later.”

Are Ferrari regretting their driver resolution?

Sainz beat Hamilton to a primary podium of the 2025 season with an impressive drive to 3rd place on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Hamilton may solely end eighth, one place forward of teammate Charles Leclerc, on one other underwhelming weekend for Ferrari as Sainz celebrated his milestone podium with Williams.

However Sainz, a four-time grand prix winner with Ferrari, refused to get drawn into speak of comparisons with Hamilton.

“What everybody else does shouldn’t be my enterprise, to be trustworthy,” Sainz insisted. 

“What I care about is that the primary alternative that I needed to rating a podium with Williams, and the primary alternative Williams needed to rating a podium, we took it, we scored it, and there it’s.”

Hamilton is enduring a tough debut season with Ferrari and is but to attain a podium in his first 17 grands prix.

Apart from profitable the Chinese language dash race, Hamilton’s finest outcome for Ferrari has been fourth place which he took at Imola, the Pink Bull Ring and Silverstone.

Former Haas workforce principal Guenther Steiner believes that a few of the Ferrari workforce remorse changing Sainz with Hamilton.

“I feel some individuals within the workforce do,” Steiner instructed The Pink Flags Podcast. “I feel clearly administration can’t really feel remorse since you can be admitting that you just did one thing fallacious, and you can not try this, as a result of I’m certain that a few of the guys there are feeling remorse, as a result of Ferrari completed eighth and ninth in Baku.

“Carlos Sainz, now with Williams, completed third, so it’s like, I suppose the man feeling finest about it’s Carlos Sainz.”

Steiner went on so as to add: “I imply, Carlos was doing an excellent job. They wouldn’t have all of the interference from outdoors of Lewis not performing, so the workforce may concentrate on going racing, making issues higher, as an alternative of all the time looking for out why Lewis doesn’t just like the automotive.

“They’d a recognized amount with Carlos; he may ship, and Lewis clearly, I imply, I respect Lewis, however within the second, for the unrest he brings into the workforce and across the workforce, is it a worthwhile funding? Possibly not.

“Additionally, the funding money-wise, I’m fairly certain it’s lots increased with Lewis than with Carlos.”