Carlos Sainz exit sparks Ferrari F1 “downhill” question: Are they missing him?

1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve believes Ferrari are feeling the effects of Carlos Sainz’s departure.

Ferrari have endured a miserable 2025 F1 campaign.

After 17 races, they’re still winless, and on balance, have had the fourth-fastest car this season.

Ferrari have only been second in the constructors’ championship for a significant portion of the campaign because they have two cars capable of scoring regularly.

Red Bull and Mercedes have been carried by their lead driver for most of the season.

Yuki Tsunoda has taken a long time to get to grips with the RB21, but has seemingly made some progress following his sixth-place finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Kimi Antonelli’s rookie F1 season has been mixed, showing flashes of speed, but plenty of low moments.

Are Ferrari missing Sainz?

Villeneuve has raised the Sainz question after the Spaniard scored Williams’ first podium since 2021 in Baku last time out.

Sainz was arguably the star of the weekend, finishing in the top three on merit following an outstanding qualifying.

His arrival at Williams has coincided with the team’s step forward.

This has been a common trend throughout Sainz’s career.

When he joined McLaren in 2019, they became regular points scorers again after several difficult years.

Ferrari instantly improved in 2021 before starting the following year with a championship-contending car.

Williams are on course to finish in the top five of the constructors’ standings for the first time since 2017.

Speaking to OLBG, Villeneuve highlighted the impact Sainz has on a new team.

“If you look at his career, when he’s joined a new team, it has taken him a while, half a season maybe, to get up to speed. He works at it. But in that period, he makes the whole team go better. That’s what happened in every team he’s joined,” he said.

“And at some point, he’s often had a teammate that maybe was just a few hundredths quicker. But that teammate was quicker also thanks to the work that Sainz was doing.

“But then Sainz became quicker than his teammate. Even when you look at Leclerc, Leclerc wasn’t ahead of Sainz at Ferrari like a lot of people want to think. And every time he left a team, that team went downhill. Every time. And it’s the same with Ferrari now.”

Villeneuve also thinks that Sainz will be reluctant to “jump ship” given the leadership role he has at Williams now. 

“No, Williams haven’t turned a corner because it’s been slow and gradual improvement. Lately, Sainz has shown that he was up there, but something always went wrong like at Zandvoort,” he added.

“But if you don’t throw the toys out of the pram, then you’ll be fine. Right now, all this hard work is starting to pay off. It’s also a track that suited Williams.

“Sainz has to be quite happy with what’s going on at Williams. Because now he’s perceived as the team builder, as a great addition and he’s loved there. So if you’re going to jump ship you have to think twice.”