“We have decided to focus on young people”: these are Toto Wolff’s last words on the future of Mercedes without Hamilton. Words that for Carlos Sainz sound like… mourning, if it weren’t for the fact that such terms should never be used when talking about motorsport.
The drivers’ market of the last two weeks has given only bad news to the Ferrari Spaniard. Perez’s confirmation for an extended future and Toto’s latest exit (which puts the very young Kimi Antonelli on the launching pad for next year) have double-locked the doors to Red Bull and Mercedes respectively. Now what is left for Carlitos, who has been let go by Maranello to make room for Lewis Hamilton from 2025? Audi, which had never made a secret of aiming for Sainz, was first disappointed and then irritated by the stalling of the driver and his staff, with even skeptical words about the fact that Ingolstadt’s management will soon be able to give competitiveness to the current Sauber. So what’s left? Williams, but what temptation can a team that hasn’t won for over 15 years have on the Spaniard except for the impromptu flash in Spain 2012 with Maldonado? And let’s not talk about other possible solutions like Haas, or Alpine…
So here is the great trap that in six months took Sainz from a driver in top form at Ferrari, the only one capable of giving Leclerc a hard time in the home battle, to an almost thirty-year-old without a real choice for the future. Sainz: a driver capable of winning convincingly at Silverstone 2022, at Singapore ’23 with a masterful personal interpretation of the final laps of the race, in Australia this year at the end of another great day.
A driver who until more than 80 percent of last season was ahead of Charles in the Drivers’ World Championship, and if he had managed to stay there he would have achieved the result of closing two championships with more points than his teammate. A test driver whose skills many in the team praised, even better than Leclerc.
And then, the manhole in Las Vegas. Because without that manhole cover that demolished the bottom of his Ferrari on the first day of testing, forcing him to start from the back of the race, it would be difficult for Leclerc to have managed to overtake him in the standings and therefore crown his sprint in the championship with just a six-point lead over the which in effect closed it.
And here’s the question: with two out of three arrivals, between 2021 and 2023, ahead of Leclerc in the championship, would Ferrari still have decided to do away with Carlos to make room for Hamilton?
These are questions destined to remain unanswered, at least officially. But what bad luck, poor Carlitos: a manhole that turns into… a grave for your career. Stuff to sue the gaming city municipality…
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