Why Ferrari replacing Carlos Sainz with Alex Albon is a no-brainer for 2025
With Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz’s contracts up at the end of the year, Ferrari have a crucial decision to make ahead of the 2026 F1 rule changes.
Ferrari - and Frederic Vasseur - have a huge decision to make with their F1 driver line-up.
If the rumours are to be believed, Ferrari are very close to announcing Charles Leclerc’s contract extension. While Leclerc still lacks that Max Verstappen-like consistency, in raw performance terms, there’s arguably no one quicker than him in F1. Leclerc is Ferrari through and through - and tying him down to a new deal - makes perfect sense.
Looking at who is available on the driver market for Ferrari to sign who is capable of taking on Verstappen, Leclerc is certainly the best bet. His qualifying speed is unrivalled, while he’s shown in wheel-to-wheel combat against Verstappen that he’s not afraid to back down.
With Leclerc’s future all-but sorted - who will be his teammate? There’s no doubt that Carlos Sainz is deserving of a new contract. The Spaniard was narrowly out-scored by Leclerc in 2023 following the latter’s impressive run at the end of the season.
But it was Sainz who claimed Ferrari’s only victory - and the only non-Red Bull win of the year - with a spectacular drive at the Singapore Grand Prix. Sainz does perhaps lack that star quality the likes of Verstappen, Leclerc and even Lando Norris have, but in terms of hoovering up points, capitalising on opportunities and being very consistent, there’s not much better out there.
In that sense, keeping Sainz is logical. He’s the best driver available to Ferrari and is quick enough not to be a conventional ‘number two’. However, is that right for Ferrari, and more importantly Leclerc?
The rhetoric around Ferrari and their car has been consistent over the last 18 months, with Leclerc preferring a more pointy, oversteer-dominant car, but Sainz prefers the opposite. This was evidenced by their contrasting form in 2023, with Sainz generally more comfortable in the first two-thirds of the year (where the car was set up to have more understeer to counter its rear instability) as opposed to the final part of the season, where the Japan upgrade transformed the way the car could be set up to Leclerc’s liking.
The bottom line is that Leclerc has a higher ceiling than Sainz - and if Ferrari want to finally end that elusive F1 world championship drought, which stretches back to 2007, then they should centre everything around the former Sauber man.
As seen with Red Bull, while they don’t necessarily ‘build the car around Verstappen’, it’s clear that car development is geared aggressively which in turn suits their star driver. Leclerc and Sainz’s contrasting wants and needs from an F1 car makes things more complicated for Ferrari.
Sainz is a fantastic, proven F1 driver, who is worthy of another deal with the team, but it would be in Ferrari (and Leclerc’s) interests to replace him. Alex Albon has performed magnificently since switching to Williams at the start of 2022.
Albon’s performances have been akin to George Russell’s before his move to Mercedes, restoring his damaged reputation after a turbulent 18 months at Red Bull.
While it’s fair to say that Sainz is probably a step ahead of Albon (based on what we’ve seen in F1) in performance terms, the Thai driver would compliment Leclerc better at Ferrari. It’s widely known that Leclerc and Albon have more similar driving styles, stretching back to their time as teammates in F2. Plus, the general hierarchy of the team would be more defined.
Currently, Sainz is more of a ‘1.5 driver’ than a ‘number two’, as opposed to Albon, who would be a supporting act to Leclerc. An unpopular philosophy among fans? Perhaps, but history has shown it’s the most successful. Whether it’s Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas or Verstappen and Sergio Perez - the mega star team leader alongside dependable, proven second driver is the way to go.
Leclerc and Albon would give Ferrari a better balance, with less chance of friction. To Sainz’s credit, he’s more of a Nico Rosberg as opposed to a Bottas - when looking at his on track performances relative to Leclerc, if we use Hamilton as a comparison.
While on paper, a Sainz-less Ferrari is weaker, in theory, a team centred around Leclerc, supported by Albon, should bring the best out of their mega star driver, which is crucial in their mighty challenge of bringing down Verstappen in the coming years.
