Former F1 champion picks Carlos Sainz over Charles Leclerc to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes

Following the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz crossed the chequered flag in 3rd place after putting on an electrifying show with his ‘aggressive’ driving charisma. But the charismatic Spaniard still have to make way for Lewis Hamilton’s ‘dream move’ to Ferrari and look for a new team in 2025.

Regarding the Spaniard’s next team, ex-World Champ Damon Hill has picked Carlos Sainz as the true replacement for Hamilton at Mercedes.

Damon Hill lavishes praise on Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz hit the gas on his ‘performance pedals’ at the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is crystal-clear in his post-race result: the Spaniard secured a podium finish (P3) for the Italian Giants with a total race time of 1:32:9.852 hrs.

In a post-race session with Sky Sports, Carlos Sainz was the subject matter of a discussion between the F1 pundits Damon Hill—former Formula 1 Champion—and Naomi Schiff.

Talking about Carlos Sainz, Schiff quoted him as saying, “He’s not just a good driver. He’s a good racer and a thinking driver. He has his head wrapped around everything.”

“Sometimes he asks his engineers questions, and they don’t quite have the answers. He almost alerts them to the information that he would like. That’s a really good sign. He’s thinking ahead,” she added.

“He is planning, constantly thinking,” she said.

Backing her claim, Damon Hill added his words by saying “If you remember Carlos, famously at Silverstone, countered the strategy that Ferrari suggested he did.”

“He knows what he’s doing”, Hill concluded.

From what it appears to be, Damon Hill was all praise for Carlos Sainz and even deemed the Spaniard to be better than the Monégasque Charles Leclerc.

Damon Hill chooses Sainz over Leclerc to replace Lewis Hamilton

In the same discussion, Damon Hill kept Carlos Sainz–who has outperformed his teammate in the past two seasons–ahead of Charles Leclerc in the race for Lewis Hamilton’s replacement at Mercedes if the Silver Arrows shortlisted the two as potential candidates.

During the comparison, the question was put forth: “Would Mercedes’ Toto Wolff prefer to welcome Leclerc or Sainz in 2025 as a replacement for Hamilton?”

Hill jumped in on the topic by replying, “If I was Toto, I think that I’d pick Carlos.”

“Carlos is someone who could work well with the team. The engineers would understand. And he gets the engineering,” he told.

Backing up his choice, he added: “There have been moments where things have happened on Charles’ side of the garage that weren’t necessarily happening on Carlos’ side, on race day. That’s because it seemed like Carlos was ahead on a few things.”

“You’d never say that Charles has got the upper hand over Carlos. Carlos is able to beat him on many occasions and has done over a season. I think that is a point to be made.”

“Have we seen the best of Charles? Has he matured to the point where you can look at him and say he could take a title fight right the way through, without dropping the ball?” Hill concluded, doubting Leclerc’s consistency.

Carlos Sainz will try to prove his superiority over Charles Leclerc on March 9th at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Is Carlos Sainz really a better racer than Charles Leclerc? Should Mercedes really think of bringing in Sainz as Hamilton’s replacement? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.