Carlos Sainz’s theory on Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari breakthrough

Lewis Hamilton delivered his first Ferrari victory in Barcelona – one-and-a-half years after joining the team – and now sits second in the Formula 1 championship.

With three more podiums already this season before his Barcelona win, Hamilton is once again making headlines.

The 41-year-old has spoken extensively about the changes he pushed Ferrari to make last year – and how those efforts are now starting to deliver results. But could it be as simple as the new car Ferrari produced under the latest regulations suiting his driving style better?

Carlos Sainz, who raced for Ferrari before making way for Hamilton, believes that could well be the case.

“In the end, it shows that this sport has no secrets,” he told the Spanish press after the Barcelona race, won by Hamilton. “I think we all have a very high level of talent, but with different driving characteristics. Some cars suit us, others don’t.”

Sainz cited the start of the 2022 season, when Ferrari produced one of the fastest cars following a major regulation overhaul. While Charles Leclerc won two of the first three races and led the championship for some time, the Spaniard struggled to match his team-mate’s pace.

He says he needed time to adapt to a car that did not suit his natural driving style – and that once he did, the results improved as well.

“The real virtue of a driver is being able to adapt and being able to take whatever Formula 1 car you’re given and drive it at the limit,” he said. “Something similar happened to me in 2022. At the start of the year, I had a Ferrari that I really didn’t like. Then I managed to adapt, and in 2023 and 2024 I think I performed at a very high level.

“And it can define your entire career. Suddenly you join a team with a car that doesn’t suit you, and you spend three years unable to adapt, or the car never adapts to you, and you can look completely useless. Then you move to a team where the car is perfectly suited to your style and suddenly you look like a god. This sport is much more complicated than people think.”

Sainz went as far as suggesting that, had the regulations not changed over the winter, Hamilton’s season could have looked very different.

“Lewis also deserves a lot of credit for turning things around from last year to this year in the way he has,” he said. “He’s also benefited from the regulation change because if he’d been stuck with last year’s car for another three years, maybe we wouldn’t be seeing the Lewis we’re seeing this season.

“It shows that this sport needs to be explained properly. People need to understand a little more about how things work because changing teams is not easy. At this rate, I’m changing teams every two years and I have to adapt to whatever I’m given.

“And yes, that’s why I also think my season last year had a lot of merit. The podiums at the end of the year and this first half of the season might not be getting much attention, but I’m having a very, very good year.”

In his four seasons at Ferrari, Sainz finished ahead of Charles Leclerc in the championship once – in his maiden campaign with the team in 2021, when he outscored the Monegasque by 5.5 points. Following the 2022 regulation overhaul, Sainz finished fifth in the standings with one victory, while Leclerc ended the year second with three wins. The Spaniard was seventh in 2023, just six points behind his team-mate, before ending his Ferrari career in fifth in the 2024 championship, 66 points adrift of Leclerc, who finished third.

Leclerc also comfortably had the upper hand over Hamilton during their first season together at Ferrari in 2025. But the picture has changed dramatically this year. Following his victory in Barcelona, Hamilton sits second in the championship, while Leclerc is fourth and trails his team-mate by 40 points.

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– The Motorsport.com Team

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