F1 champion warns of Ferrari suffering after Lewis Hamilton decision

Ferrari have been warned that a decision they made over 18 months ago is still biting them in terms of their F1 performance.

The historic team made the decision to move on from Carlos Sainz in favour of bringing in seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, the British driver looking for one last hurrah at the end of a storied career.

Sainz was shipped off to Williams for the 2025 season but, after a brilliant performance last time out in Baku, he has managed more grand prix podiums for his new team than Hamilton has with the Scuderia.

Now, 1997 F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve has warned the famous Italian team that 'every time' the Spaniard leaves a team, their fate takes a turn for the worse - as last year's constructors' championship challengers are now finding out.

Sainz is currently on his fifth F1 team having previously been with Toro Rosso, Renault, McLaren and, of course, Ferrari.

Villeneuve: Sainz criticism is not accurate

Speaking to OLBG, Villeneuve said: "Carlos Sainz had an amazing weekend and it was nearly on pole, wasn't it? But then he drove well in the race, he survived there, and kept going for the podium. He's always been a very mature, strong driver. He’s often been criticised for lack of pace which is not the case.

"But he's shown that in a race situation when there's pressure, he's a cool cat. He's all control, his voice is calm, he's thinking, he doesn't get overwhelmed by what's happening around him. And when you've seen the season he's had, it's been a tough season, it doesn't seem to have affected him. It's probably eaten at him. It's probably been stupidly tiring.

"But somehow, he's always there, he just always comes back for more, which is a great attribute. If you look at his career, when he’s joined a new team, it has taken him a while, half a season maybe, to get up to speed. He works at it. But in that period, he makes the whole team go better.

"That's what happened in every team he's joined. And at some point, he's often had a team-mate that maybe was just a few hundredths quicker. But that team-mate was quicker also thanks to the work that Sainz was doing.

"But then Sainz became quicker than his team-mate. Even when you look at Leclerc, Leclerc wasn't ahead of Sainz at Ferrari like a lot of people want to think. And every time he left a team, that team went downhill. Every time. And it’s the same with Ferrari now."

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