Carlos Sainz is enjoying a career renaissance in Williams blue – but don’t mistake his success for taking any pleasure in Lewis Hamilton’s struggles at Ferrari.
Despite outscoring expectations and securing two podiums in a season where Hamilton failed to stand on the rostrum for the first time in his 18-year Formula 1 career, Sainz insists he takes “no satisfaction from the evil of another.”
The Spaniard’s move from the Scuderia to Williams was met with scepticism when he signed for the team that had spent years marooned at the bottom of the Constructors’ standings.
But with the 31-year-old scoring 64 points and teammate Alex Albon adding 73 more, the team rocketed to an unexpected fifth in the championship – and Sainz, notably, grabbed podiums in Azerbaijan and Qatar.
When asked by Marca whether the fruitless season of his successor at Ferrari offered him any personal satisfaction, Sainz was unequivocal:
“No, I am satisfied with my two podiums. I am not at all satisfied with the evil of another,” he said.
“I’m pleased that I’ve achieved two podiums with Williams in Baku and Qatar, and another in the Austin Sprint and I’m pleased to do it when last year there were many doubts about being able to achieve it.”
He added that some initially viewed his Williams switch with pity.
“When I announced that I was going to Williams, I felt that some people felt sorry for me,” he added. “It was a bit of a weird feeling.
“Some journalists, social networks, I don’t know, I didn’t see it that way. For me it was a new chapter, another opportunity… I was just thinking about the future. Not in the past.”
What Ferrari lost – and what Sainz still wants
This season, Ferrari endured a lean campaign without a single Grand Prix win, prompting questions about whether the Scuderia misses the Spaniard. But Sainz declined to speculate.
“Well, I don’t think I can answer that question… On a more sentimental level, I would like to think that I left a good impression… But, I insist, you would have to ask them that,” he said.
As for his own ambitions, Sainz’s objectives remain clear.
“I don’t care when, what I want is to be ‘one’… You have to be at the right time in the right car and of course be ready to fight it,” he explained.
“As long as I arrive, I don’t care when. I’m willing to wait whatever it takes to be able to fight to be champion.”
For Sainz, 2025 was not about Hamilton’s first podium-less year. It was about proving himself anew – and laying the groundwork for the title fight he believes will one day be his.
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