With No Contract in Place Yet, Carlos Sainz Reveals His Desire to Team Up With Lewis Hamilton

With the 2023 F1 season almost at its halfway mark, Lewis Hamilton has still not penned down a deal to extend his Mercedes contract. His current deal expires at the end of the season and the 38-year-old has been strongly linked with a move to Ferrari. Amidst all the speculations regarding Hamilton, Ferrari star Carlos Sainz has opened up about his desire to team up with Hamilton.

Hamilton and Mercedes had quite a bit of tension between them towards the start of the season. However, as the season progressed and the car slowly recovered its pace, things became much smoother. Hamilton has spoken repeatedly about his commitment to Mercedes and his plans to stay on beyond the current season.

It has been reported that Hamilton put forward a demand for a five-year-long contract that pays him $50 million per year. As per BusinessF1, even though Mercedes have agreed to the huge monetary aspect of the deal, the team is not on board with the idea of having Hamilton with them for another five years.

Amidst all of this, Carlos Sainz was asked to choose between Verstappen and Hamilton when it comes to picking a teammate. The Spaniard had a clear cut answer for this, and had strong reasons to back his claim too.

Carlos Sainz believes he can learn a lot from Lewis Hamilton

Carlos Sainz was asked to choose between two hypothetical future teammates – Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen. As per Baylasports F1, Sainz said, “I would like Lewis.”

He explained that he has never been teammates with Hamilton throughout his eight-year-long career in F1. Sainz said, “I guess being a team-mate of a seven-time world champion has to be good for your career. And you’re probably going to learn.”

As for Verstappen, Sainz partnered up with him during his rookie season for Toro Rosso back in 2015. They were teammates for a year before Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull. Sainz pointed this experience out and explained that he already has prior experience of being teammates with Verstappen. Therefore, he chose Hamilton, to try out something new (hypothetically).

However, Sainz added that he doesn’t really care who the better teammate would be. “But honestly, I don’t care. Whoever I have as a team-mate. I’ll embrace it,” he added.

A poor 2023 season for Ferrari and Sainz

Things have been really difficult for Sainz and Ferraro recently. The Maranello-based outfit have had a disappointing start to the 2023 season. They are falling behind the likes of Aston Martin, Mercedes and of course, Red Bull.

There have been quite a few situations throughout the season where Sainz has been visibly frustrated with Ferrari and their strategies. Sainz has not managed to get on the podium even once in 2023 as he stands P5 in the driver’s championship, 1 point ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.

With Ferrari lacking pace and making so many mistakes, Sainz’s patience could very well be running out. As for leaving Ferrari, there aren’t many options available for Sainz. However, certain rumors have linked him to a seat at Audi for 2025.