Carlos Sainz lifts lid on Mercedes talks after Lewis Hamilton bombshell
Carlos Sainz was forced to make way for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari
Williams driver Carlos Sainz has admitted he did “not really” come close to replacing Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for the F1 2025 season.
Sainz was forced to make way for Hamilton at the end of last year after the seven-time World Champion announced his blockbuster move to Ferrari.
Carlos Sainz reveals extent of Mercedes talks after Lewis Hamilton move triggered Ferrari exit
The Spaniard was linked with a range of teams, including Sauber and Alpine, over a long-running transfer saga before signing a multi-year deal with Williams.
Sainz was overlooked by a number of teams at the front of the field, with Red Bull initially tying Sergio Perez to a new two-year contract before opting to replace the Mexican at the end of the 2024 season.
The outgoing Ferrari man was also briefly linked with Mercedes before the Brackley-based team eventually opted for Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Hamilton’s successor.
Carlos Sainz vs Alex Albon: Williams head-to-head scores for F1 2025
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
Appearing on the High Performance podcast, Sainz has revealed that he had a number of discussions with Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, in 2024 with a view to replacing Hamilton.
Yet he conceded that a move to Mercedes was among the more unlikely options available to him for F1 2025.
Asked if he came close to a deal with Mercedes, Sainz said: “Not really.
“We spoke a lot with Toto and everyone else at the time and I was certainly one of the options that was considered.
“But how close was I? You can ask Toto that.
“But I think he is very happy with Kimi Antonelli.”
Sainz’s latest comments come after the latest series of Drive to Survive, the hit Netflix docuseries, revealed Sainz’s alarm at a lack of contact from Wolff.
A scene shows Sainz sat alongside Hamilton in a press conference in Bahrain, where the former admits that he is yet to hear from the Mercedes team boss.
Hamilton whispers: “What about talking to Toto?”
More on Carlos Sainz and Williams from PlanetF1.com
Sainz replies: “I haven’t talked to Toto yet. Which makes me feel like if he really had an interest, he would have already called me.”
Sainz has had an underwhelming start to his Williams career, scoring just 13 points across his first 12 races with his new team.
He trails team-mate Alex Albon by 33 points ahead of next weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, having been restricted to just two points across the last five races.
Sainz has also struggled over one lap over recent weeks, failing to reach Q3 for three races in succession at the Spanish, Canadian and Austrian grands prix.
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