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As Carlos Sainz departs Ferrari to make way for Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc has written a heartfelt message to his teammate of four years. In the message, Leclerc reveals the things he’ll miss most of all about the Spaniard.
Carlos Sainz joined Ferrari at the start of 2021. His four seasons with the Italian team have brought him 4 victories, including his first F1 win at Silverstone in 2022, 24 podiums, 6 pole positions and 3 fastest laps.
Whilst Sainz admitted he wasn’t 100% happy with his time at Ferrari because he didn’t manage to bag the driver’s or constructor’s titles, he came mighty close to the latter in 2024 when Ferrari were narrowly beaten to the World Constructor’s title by McLaren.
Despite missing out on the titles, Sainz can look back fondly at his most competitive era in the sport with the Italian team. Many think that Ferrari have made the wrong call by booting Sainz out, who’s the best he’s ever been, to make way for Lewis Hamilton who might be slightly over the hill.
Did they get it wrong? We’ll have to see whether Lewis gets his mojo back in 2025 with a new team and a new challenge.
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As his final days with Ferrari come to an end, his teammate Charles Leclerc has written a heartfelt message to Carlos which has been posted on the Ferrari app.
Leclerc talked about Sainz getting his first victory “For Carlos, that moment (at Silverstone) was very emotional and to share it with him inside the same team was also a moment I’ll remember forever.
“He’s an incredibly fast driver… There’s some kind of corners where I know he’s unbelievably quick. And then my goal is to be as close to him as possible and vice versa. And sometimes he tells me the same thing about me, and that’s fun. And that’s how you learn from your teammates. That for sure made me a better driver than I was, before Carlos.”
Leclerc also revelaed what some of his fondest memories of his teammate will be when he departs. And those aren’t confined to the circuit; memories of the pair’s off-track activities are just as enjoyable. Leclerc said “The flights together are probably the ones that I enjoy the most because we are both normally so busy and on the flight most of the time we will put our phones away and play chess.
“That’s where we have the most interesting and deep conversations and I have really, really good memories of that.”
Some chess time between @Charles_Leclerc and @Carlossainz55 today 😄#F1 pic.twitter.com/VJoZfh3pcE
— Charles Leclerc Fan Page (@LeclercNews) March 8, 2021
The Ferrari duo’s love of chess has been evident in the past. During the wait for the start of the delayed 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, the two drivers were seen playing chess against each other on their phones in the back of the Ferrari pit garage.
Later that season, Leclerc talked about their love of the game, saying “We got quite crazy with it in the first part of the year”. The two drivers have been competing on and off the track ever since.
Leclerc went on to finish his message to Sainz “I just wish him the best. We’ve had some very, very good years together. Outside the track. He’s always been incredible on the track.
“Sometimes we’ve had our moments where it was a bit more tense, but we always came out of it and spoke directly to each other, and we grew from it and it made us closer than before.”
Leclerc’s reference to the tense moments comes off the back of a spicy end to the season between the two drivers. Leclerc was ahead of Sainz in the championship and in with a shot of taking 2nd place away from the McLaren driver Lando Norris in the standings. At the Las Vegas GP, the third-to-last race, Ferrari gave Sainz team orders not to overtake Leclerc.
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But Sainz ignored those orders and passed Leclerc to finish on the podium. At the end of the race Charles let rip on the radio, saying “being nice f***s me all the f***ing time”. It’s not even being nice, it’s just being respectful.”
After the race Leclerc said “We talk about these things before the race and I am always the one who respects them. From now on I’ll be thinking about myself.”
Despite these occasional moments of frustration that spill over in the heat of the moment, the Ferrari duo have always appeared friendly and professional off the track.
Leclerc was asked about Sainz moving from Ferrari to Williams. He said “It’s a very successful driver pairing and I just wish him the absolute best. He deserves it.”
Asked, finally, about the one thing he’ll miss most of all about having Sainz as his teammate, Leclerc responded “I think the thing that I’ll miss most about Carlos is just… Carlos”.
