Although he is moving from Ferrari to Williams for the 2025 season, Marc Surer definitely sees world championship qualities in Carlos Sainz
For Carlos Sainz, the glory years of his active career are probably over for now. In 2025, he is switching from Ferrari, currently second in the World Championship, to Williams, currently second-to-last in the Constructors’ Championship 2024. And yet Marc Surer believes that the 30-year-old Spaniard could still become Formula One World Champion “at some point”.
Sainz currently has 244 points in the 2024 drivers’ championship and is in fifth place overall. His teammate, Charles Leclerc, is third with 307 points. Leclerc also leads the qualifying duel, 15-9, including sprint qualifying. And Leclerc has won six Grands Prix in their four years together at Ferrari, Sainz “only” four.
Leclerc is “incredibly fast,” says Surer, “when the car does what he wants. Then he is often two or three tenths faster than Sainz – and Sainz doesn’t know why. But the car has to do exactly what Leclerc wants, namely turn in well. He is also one of those drivers who need a car with a front axle that sticks.”
A parallel to the driving style of Max Verstappen, who can also handle a loose rear well because he can usually catch it with his outstanding car control and unique feel, even at high speeds. But if the front axle slides, both Verstappen and Leclerc struggle.
Sainz is faster than Leclerc when…
That is precisely “Sainz’s strength”: when the car is not perfect, he can adapt to it and handle it well. When the car is good, Leclerc is incredibly fast. But only then. When the car is not quite perfect, Sainz is faster.”
A good example of this was Sainz’s last victory to date with Ferrari, at the Mexican Grand Prix in October. But looking at it over four years, Surer understands why Ferrari gave Sainz the boot rather than Leclerc when it came to clearing a cockpit for Lewis Hamilton: “Of course, you always take the one who is ultimately the slower of the two.”
Nevertheless, the former Formula 1 driver from Switzerland believes that Sainz “will eventually become world champion. Because he can live with compromises and is still incredibly fast. And over the course of a year, these are the drivers to watch.” Sainz has an advantage over those who are only fast “if the car is right”.
Sainz: “I can also become world champion”
Sainz himself has not yet given up on the dream of one day winning a Formula 1 World Championship. Mexico reminded him “that I can win races,” and he thinks, “If I perform like this, I can also become world champion. I just have to focus on always delivering like I did in Mexico. Then I’ll be in a good position for the future.”
Incidentally, for Surer, Sainz’s successor at Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, also falls into the category of those drivers who can only achieve their maximum performance if they feel comfortable in the car: ”Hamilton is the same. If the car is right, he can beat Russell. But only then. The bottom line is that Russell is always the faster of the two.”
Ferrari is already the fourth team in a row to release Sainz from his contract, although they could have kept him, after Toro Rosso, Renault and McLaren. Surer therefore thinks: “I would say Sainz is underestimated because he still has the ability to perform even when the car is not so perfect.”
The full interview with Marc Surer (10 minutes) about the driver swap Sainz-Hamilton at Ferrari, by the way, recorded after Sainz’ victory at the Mexican Grand Prix,
