Ferrari data reveals Carlos Sainz outperformed Lewis Hamilton by a wide margin in a key area

Carlos Sainz Shows Grace Despite Losing Ferrari Seat to Lewis Hamilton

Carlos Sainz has displayed remarkable professionalism and composure after being replaced by Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari. From the beginning, Sainz acknowledged the unparalleled appeal of the seven-time world champion and accepted Ferrari’s decision without public complaint.

However, it would be natural for Carlos Sainz to feel some frustration when observing Hamilton’s early performances in 2025. So far, Lewis Hamilton has appeared to be a downgrade compared to the Spaniard. While it remains possible that Hamilton will eventually adapt and deliver performances that surpass Carlos Sainz’s previous level, the initial signs have been far from encouraging for the Maranello team.

With the exception of a strong showing on Friday and Saturday at the Shanghai International Circuit, Lewis Hamilton has consistently been outperformed by Charles Leclerc in every competitive session this season. Often, the gaps between the two Ferrari drivers have been significant rather than marginal.

Hamilton, who recently turned 40, has accumulated just 31 points over the first five race weekends. By comparison, the Spaniard surpassed that total in the opening five rounds in each of his four seasons with the Scuderia.

Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz, now at Williams, initially faced challenges adjusting to his new team. However, he has quickly found his rhythm, qualifying eighth in Bahrain before improving to a sixth-place start in Jeddah, where he also secured a valuable four-point haul.

Hamilton vs. Sainz: Early Qualifying Comparisons Paint a Stark Picture

Following a relentless opening stretch of five races in six weeks, Formula 1 has entered a brief hiatus, providing an opportunity to evaluate Lewis Hamilton’s performances against Sainz’s previous benchmarks. With a reasonable sample size, the comparison is increasingly telling.

During the 2023 Formula 1 season, Charles Leclerc outqualified his former Maranello teammate 14 times across 23 weekends, but the average gap between them was an incredibly slim 0.03%. This underscored that while Leclerc often had the edge over a single lap, Sainz was extremely close and regularly able to challenge his teammate.

Fast-forward to 2025, and the scenario looks very different. The Monegasque driver already holds a 4-1 advantage over Hamilton in qualifying sessions, with the average gap now ballooning to 0.321% according to F1 Pace data — more than ten times larger than the previous year’s difference between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

This intra-team disparity ranks as the fourth-largest among all full-time driver pairings on the grid. Only Jack Doohan (0.51%), Kimi Antonelli (0.471%), and Esteban Ocon (0.413%) trail their teammates by greater margins — and notably, two of those three drivers are rookies.

Hamilton, by his own admission, recognizes that qualifying has become a vulnerability at this stage of his career. Nevertheless, even he may not have anticipated the gulf between himself and Charles Leclerc would be so dramatic in such a short space of time.

Carlos Sainz Attracts Interest But Faces Career Warnings

While Sainz continues to rebuild his reputation at Williams, murmurs about his future destination have grown louder. Some Red Bull insiders reportedly advocated for signing Sainz last year, and with the current turbulence at Milton Keynes, they may now regret missing that opportunity.

The Spaniard has also begun to gain the upper hand over teammate Alex Albon at Williams, narrowing the qualifying head-to-head to 3-2 and finishing ahead in Saudi Arabia for the first time. Impressively, Sainz has also outqualified Hamilton in the past two Grand Prix weekends, a fact not lost on Formula 1 fans.

Although Williams has shifted its focus entirely to the 2026 regulations, effectively halting development on this year’s car, Carlos Sainz’s consistent performances could still see him push for a top-10 finish in the drivers’ standings by season’s end.

However, Juan Pablo Montoya has publicly urged Carlos Sainz to think carefully about any potential offer from Red Bull. With uncertainty surrounding both Max Verstappen’s and Yuki Tsunoda’s futures beyond 2025, a seat could open — but Montoya characterized the Red Bull opportunity as “poison ivy,” suggesting it could do more harm than good to Carlos Sainz’s career trajectory.