Carlos Sainz details Lewis Hamilton change: “Used to be one of my idols…”

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 with out a drive, however after receiving a number of provides for 2025, the Spaniard joined Williams.

Sainz was nonetheless karting and watching F1 when Hamilton received 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 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 could be considered one of my idols,” Sainz informed Radio 1 Breakfast with Greg James.

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

“He was considered one of my idols and one of many those who I regarded as much as, however now he’s considered one of my opponents, 10, 15 years later.”

Are Ferrari regretting their driver choice?

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

Hamilton might 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 discuss of comparisons with Hamilton.

“What everybody else does will not be my enterprise, to be sincere,” 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 realize a podium in his first 17 grands prix.

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

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

“I believe some folks within the group do,” Steiner informed The Purple Flags Podcast. “I believe clearly administration can’t really feel remorse since you could be admitting that you simply did one thing incorrect, and you can’t try this, as a result of I’m certain that a number 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 assume the man feeling finest about it’s Carlos Sainz.”

Steiner went on so as to add: “I imply, Carlos was doing job. They wouldn’t have all of the interference from exterior of Lewis not performing, so the group might 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.

“That they had a identified amount with Carlos; he might ship, and Lewis clearly, I imply, I respect Lewis, however within the second, for the unrest he brings into the group and across the group, is it a worthwhile funding? Perhaps not.

“Additionally, the funding money-wise, I’m fairly certain it’s quite a bit larger with Lewis than with Carlos.”