Vasseur: Sainz situation not easy, but he’s mega professional

Sainz knew early on this season that he will be leaving Ferrari at its conclusion to make way for Lewis Hamilton who will become Charles Leclerc's teammate in 2025.

However, Sainz continued business as usual with Ferrari, and even took their first win in 2024 at the Australian Grand Prix when Max Verstappen broke down on Lap 1 with a faulty brake.

Vasseur is impressed with how Sainz has conducted himself since he knew that he lost his job at Maranello, and speaking to the media at Monza, he said: "I have huge respect for Carlos, for what he did for the team in the last years, but mainly the last two years with me.

"I can perfectly see what he did last year, mainly when we had trouble, he was able to push the team to come back with the pole in Monza, to win in Singapore. This pushed a little bit probably also Charles to react and he did [many] first rows [on the grid] in a row.

"He was clearly part of the recovery of the team last year and this season he’s doing a very good job. I know perfectly that the situation was not easy at the beginning of the season, but he’s mega professional.

"We had a discussion last winter and we agreed together to push until the last corner of the last lap [of the season] and he’s doing very well," Vasseur maintained.

"For sure" was Vasseur's response when asked if he would like to work with Sainz in the future and reiterated that his decision to ditch him in favor of signing Hamilton "was not an easy one".

"I’m more than pleased to have Carlos [in the team] and I will keep a very good relationship with him," the Frenchman concluded.

Sainz still has eighth grands prix to contest as a Ferrari driver, and up to now he has achieved three wins and five pole positions with the Scuderia. He will join Williams for the 2025 F1 season.