IN THE MIDST OF ANOTHER TOUGH YEAR for Ferrari, Carlos Sainz has had his best season yet for the team, and it looks as if it will secure him a long-term future at Maranello.
Just after the summer break, Sainz’s position at Ferrari looked less guaranteed. He wanted to stay beyond the end of his current contract, which finishes next season, but the team wasn’t as sure.
There were questions about the dynamic between Sainz and team-mate Charles Leclerc; about some of the ways the intense competition between them had occasionally frayed more than the matey official Ferrari social media posts would suggest; about whether Sainz really was the best long-term partner for Leclerc, who remains the team’s primary driver in heart and mind, even if Ferrari doesn’t designate them as one and two, and both are treated equally.
But Sainz – who still has other options outside Ferrari for 2025, particularly at what will become Audi – has changed minds in his favour. As the season comes to its close, his desire to stay is matched by Ferrari’s wish to keep him. Things can change, of course, but for now it looks as if Sainz and Leclerc – for whom a new contract is a given – will be continuing together at Maranello for some time to come.
It’s easy to see why. On the face
