F1 boss admits Hamilton decision call 'most difficult' in his life

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has admitted that his phone call to Carlos Sainz Jr. to tell the Spaniard he would be pushed out of the team by Lewis Hamilton was one of the hardest of his life.

The seven-time world champion will partner Charles Leclerc from the 2025 season, the Monegasque having signed an extension to his current Ferrari deal in January, keeping him at the Maranello-based team beyond 2024.

Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari means Carlos Sainz will be a free agent for 2025, but at the time of writing, the Spaniard’s F1 future is still uncertain heading into 2024.

Sainz's two-year stint at Ferrari began in 2021, replacing outgoing four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel at the Maranello-based team. In his first season, Sainz achieved four podiums, including a best of second at the Monaco GP, helping him finish fifth in the driver's standings, making him the highest non-Mercedes and Red Bull driver.

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Vasseur: Sainz call was one of my hardest

In 2022, Sainz became a race winner with a controversial maiden victory at the British GP and secured an extension to his then-current Ferrari deal in May of that year, keeping him there until 2024.

Sainz then achieved his second F1 victory with a heroic drive in September's Singapore GP, but this performance wasn't good enough to keep him in the team after 2024.

Ferrari's Fred Vasseur reiterated that the decision to axe Sainz wasn't straightforward but now plans to steer the team's focus away from the future and back onto 2024.

"As you can imagine, it was not the easiest call of my life,” admitted Ferrari Vasseur. “One of the most difficult, with the one with Toto [Wolff]. We are sure that he will bring us a decent step for the future and it will be a good challenge for everybody.

“We want to be focused on 2024, and we don't want to have any kind of distraction. It's also why we made the announcement so early because it was important for us to be focused on 2024 for all of the season."

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