How Lewis Hamilton's arrival almost destroyed Ferrari

When Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari move was first announced in February 2024, the main feeling from the outside world was one of shock.

Arguably the biggest driver transfer in the history of the sport, and the pairing of the most successful driver in F1 history with the most successful team was enough to get even neutral onlookers excited for the 2025 season.

But within the team, the mood was different. An in-form Carlos Sainz - who the year before was the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race - was to be dropped, no matter how he performed throughout 2024.

That feeling must've been difficult for Sainz to take, and surely led to Ferrari hierarchy questioning themselves when Sainz went on to claim two victories throughout 2024 and finish fifth in the drivers' championship, while Hamilton languished down in seventh.

Sainz got his head down and delivered for the team, with his performances crucial as they came within just 14 points of winning the constructors' championship for the first time since 2008.

It was also crucial for his career, proving to teams up and down the grid that he had what it took to be given a seat with a team who hope to be challenging for podiums and wins in years to come, eventually signing a multi-year deal with Williams.

However, it could have been so different for both driver and team.

In a recent interview, Sainz revealed that he thought about voicing his concerns about the team or the way in which they were being run, but that it wouldn't have changed anything and would have reflected badly on himself.

"For me, it was mainly the professional side of things," he told the High Performance Podcast. "I understand how a driver with a big ego would just maybe like to tear Ferrari apart that year, maybe become a bit political, become a bit of an infection inside the team."

When asked by podcast host Jake Humphrey whether he had ever thought about doing exactly that, the 30-year-old admitted: "Oh of course! You know we all have an angel and a demon and the demon is like 'ah there’s so many things I would like to say now or do or change', but my angel was, let’s say, more powerful at the time."

"I said no, don’t be that guy, be the professional guy," Sainz continued. "The guy that is just going to give absolutely everything until the last race for this team and leave this team behind and give everyone, the mechanics, everyone also that hasn’t done anything about that decision, they had nothing to do [with it], there’s hundreds, thousands of people working in that team that had nothing to do with that decision and I owed them my maximum professional level.

"I said I’m going to be a professional guy and the good guy, not the one that wants to set this place on fire. It’s tough but it’s character building," he later added.

Should Ferrari have signed Hamilton?

While Sainz's restraint should be commended, Ferrari's decision to announce the signing of Hamilton with a whole season ahead of them was ridiculous.

It led to a situation where Sainz had to choose whether to be professional, or whether to 'tear' the team apart, as Sainz himself put it.

While it's easy to look back in hindsight and state that it was the wrong decision due to Hamilton's struggles in his first six months at the team, the wrong decision was to announce the move so early, and have a whole year of media attention on both Sainz and Hamilton's performances.

Ferrari are no better off for making the move. Despite Hamilton's wealth of experience being a seven-time champion, neither he nor team-mate Charles Leclerc are in a position to be able to challenge for the 2025 title, while Ferrari are 238 points behind constructors' championship leaders McLaren after just 12 races.

They have gone backwards, and provided their two stars with a car that is not capable of regularly challenging for race wins, perhaps a consequence of having a driver in 2024 who would not have been allowed to sit in on meetings about the 2025 car.

Sainz would also perhaps have not been giving quite as detailed advice about their 2024 car to help in their design of their 2025 challenger, and this may have cost the Maranello outfit dear.

Their only hope is that now they have two drivers who are desperate to be given a car that can actually win races in 2026, they are more likely to have a car that is more suited to both drivers' needs as F1 heads into an era of wholesale regulation changes.

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