‘Are Ferrari regretting Lewis Hamilton move?’ – Mark Webber delivers Carlos Sainz axe verdict

Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc

It’s the only question Ferrari want to avoid but it’s the one everyone is asking today: are they “regretting” the decision to drop Carlos Sainz for Lewis Hamilton?

Mark Webber is the latest to ask the telling question after Sainz romped to a third podium in Japan, and in doing so continued his 100 per cent record for 2024 of beating his team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Carlos Sainz has been the star of the F1 2024 show

Ferrari announced back in January that Leclerc has signed a new “beyond 2024” contract. There was, however, no mention of Sainz’s future with the team, but that was thought to be a mere formality with the announcement to come.

However, Ferrari went on to shock the motorsport world when a week later they confirmed Hamilton, not Sainz, as Leclerc’s 2025 team-mate with the Spaniard told that this season would be his last racing in red.

But while Hamilton to Ferrari was a decision that was welcomed, applauded, praised and all that jazz, two months down the line Ferrari are being asked if they have made the right call.

Of the three drivers in the mix; Sainz, Leclerc and Hamilton, it is the soon-to-be-unemployed Spaniard who is having the best season as he’s romped to three podiums in three starts, including a victory at the Australian Grand Prix.

Leclerc has yet to beat him in a Grand Prix while Hamilton is in the midst of his worst-ever start to a Formula 1 championship.

PlanetF1.com recommends

Follow PlanetF1.com’s WhatsApp channel for all the F1 breaking news!

The 11 drivers out of contract at the end of the F1 2024 season

‘Ferrari…are they regretting their move?’

It begs the question, have Ferrari signed the wrong driver, and for that matter have they kept the wrong driver?

Questioned on Sainz having “nothing to lose” after between kicked out of his seat, eight-time F1 Grand Prix winner Webber told Channel 4: “Look if you can’t get motivated because you don’t have a contract in your top pocket, you’re in strife.

“I think he’s a man on a mission now, he’s got the bit between his teeth, and obviously he’s driving brilliantly.

“Ferrari, you know, are they regretting their move?”

With the ball said to be in Leclerc’s court now to prove Ferrari have “kept the right driver”, Webber’s fellow pundit Billy Monger added: “Obviously that’s what Charles will be aiming to do, to prove that he is quicker than Carlos, and he can score more points than him over a season.

“But so far it hasn’t gone that way, which probably going into the season not many people were expecting that.

“Carlos has probably over-delivered with a lot of people’s expectations of him.”

But whatever you do, don’t ask Fred Vasseur about his decision to drop Sainz for Hamilton, he clearly doesn’t want to be drawn into the debate.

“We have the same question each weekend,” the team boss said in Japan. “Do a copy-paste of my reply of last week, next one.”