"Krone" column

Party lions made a mistake

They celebrated their first double victory in two years in high spirits, with team boss Fred Vasseur even spitting around with the champagne. Ferrari is back in the race for the world championship title thanks to the fun-loving and likeable Frenchman, who took over at the start of 2023. And yet one has to wonder whether the Scuderia made a serious mistake: Namely, not extending with Carlos Sainz...

The Spaniard had already clinched the last victory in Singapore in 2023, and you will look in vain for driving errors from him. While his team-mate Charles Leclerc 's last victory was in Austria in 2022, and the Monegasque has repeatedly made mistakes. For example, his crash while leading the race in France two years ago, or most recently his braking error in Jeddah.

(Bild: AP)

Instead of Sainz, Lewis Hamilton will be in the second Ferrari in 2025 - whose retirement due to a drive failure in Melbourne is emblematic of his recent performances: in seventh place in Bahrain and ninth in Jeddah, the seven-time world champion finished twice behind Mercedes colleague George Russell, and in Australia he missed the decisive section in qualifying. His last victory was in Jeddah in December 2021.

Sainz put up the best advertisement with the Australian victory. And Mercedes is still looking for a replacement for Hamilton; Sergio Perez is not yet set for 2025 at Red Bull.