Carlos Sainz says Lewis Hamilton deserves credit for turning things around, but new Formula 1 rules helped him

Sainz, who has been in F1 since 2015, has gone through five teams, the latest being Williams. He started with Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls) as a Red Bull junior driver before moving to Renault in the final races of 2017 and stayed there until he joined McLaren in 2019.

After two seasons at Woking, Sainz moved to Ferrari for the 2021 F1 season, making way for Daniel Ricciardo before also making way for Hamilton in 2025, going on to join Williams.

The Spaniard thus has quite some experience getting embedded into a new team, with 2025 showing how hard it was for him at Williams before delivering podiums toward the end of the season.

With Hamilton bouncing back following a nightmare first season with Ferrari and even winning his first race with them in Barcelona, Sainz was asked to comment on the seven-time F1 Champion's turnaround.

Sainz said: "In the end, it shows that this sport has no secrets. I think we all have a very high level of talent, but with different driving characteristics. Some cars suit us; others don't.

"The real virtue of a driver is being able to adapt and being able to take whatever Formula 1 car you're given and drive it at the limit," the Williams driver went on. "Something similar happened to me in 2022.

"At the start of the year, I had a Ferrari that I really didn't like. Then I managed to adapt, and in 2023 and 2024 I think I performed at a very high level.

"And it can define your entire career," he warned. "Suddenly you join a team with a car that doesn't suit you, and you spend three years unable to adapt, or the car never adapts to you, and you can look completely useless.

"Then you move to a team where the car is perfectly suited to your style, and suddenly you look like a god. This sport is much more complicated than people think."

Hamilton clearly could not get his head around Ferrari's 2025 F1 car, and he has notably struggled to deal with the ground effect generation of F1 cars.

Sainz added: "Lewis also deserves a lot of credit for turning things around from last year to this year in the way he has.

"He's also benefited from the regulation change because if he'd been stuck with last year's car for another three years, maybe we wouldn't be seeing the Lewis we're seeing this season.

"It shows that this sport needs to be explained properly. People need to understand a little more about how things work because changing teams is not easy. At this rate, I'm changing teams every two years, and I have to adapt to whatever I'm given.

"And yes, that's why I also think my season last year had a lot of merit. The podiums at the end of the year and this first half of the season might not be getting much attention, but I'm having a very, very good year," Sainz concluded.

Williams, despite finishing fifth in the 2025 F1 Constructors' Championship, are struggling with their 2026 F1 car, which was late while also turning up overweight.

However Sainz has managed to score points for them with three ninth places in China, Miami, and Canada. Alex Albon's best results were eighth and tenth in Monaco and China, respectively. (Reporting by Agnes Carlier)