Toto Wolff recently stated how rumors around Lewis Hamilton moving teams always come up when he’s due for a contract extension. Carlos Sainz did seem a little shaken and in panic, as Ferrari planned a $49,000,000 gamble. However, a former F1 driver has now come out to calm his fellow Spaniard down by revealing a crucial reason why Ferrari needs to drop the F1 gamble. What was the reason? 

Rumors of Ferrari preparing a $49 million contract for Lewis Hamilton have been going around the paddock for quite some time now. And recently speculations of Charles Leclerc getting close to an extension with Ferrari were also made after John Elkann had a meeting at Maranello. Amid all this, Carlos Sainz recently revealed that he prefers to have his contract deal sorted for the next season before starting a new season, suggesting he wants to plan everything in advance. 

Nevertheless, fellow Spaniard and ex-Formula 1 driver Pedro de la Rosa suggested that Carlos Sainz doesn’t need to worry about his contract. He implies that Sainz still has a year left on his contract after the current season. de la Rosa gave the crucial reason stating why Ferrari needs Sainz, stating that the team has made a lot of changes recently and would like to have some stability as it goes through this transition. The mistakes that Sainz has been making regularly were justified by advising that it’s part of the sport when a driver pushes beyond the limit. 

According to the F1 nation podcast, Pedro de la Rosa said, “I don’t see why because the reality is, you have one more year of the contract, Charles has also. There’s been a lot of changes in the team, so I’m pretty sure the team wants a bit of stability. You’re doing a good job. You’re making your own mistakes and that’s clear, but that’s part of the game you know. You push…, you push the limits and sometimes you go over it. You know there are a lot of rumors about the future of Lewis and that’s obviously affecting Ferrari. From my point of view, there is absolutely no reason to feel the pressure when you’re doing a good job.”

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Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, is quite relaxed about his contract situation. His contract ends the same year that Sainz’s does, yet there is no urgency in his words to sign a contract immediately. 

Charles Leclerc on not setting a deadline to sort his contract out. 

Prior to the Monaco GP, with the Hamilton speculations going around, Charles Leclerc revealed how his priority this year is not to get his contract sorted out. Leclerc explained how he’s focused on the upcoming races and not thinking about what others are saying. As he is focused on himself, he talks about how he will have discussions with the team when the time comes. 

According to express.co.uk, Charles Leclerc said “No, I haven’t set myself a deadline to deal with this. We will see when the time comes, the discussions have not yet started and I think it is Fred [Vasseur, team principal] who will have to be asked the question. A year and a half left on the contract is still a long time and it is normal that there are no talks in progress. These rumors don’t really affect me and I’m mostly trying to focus on what there is to do on the track because we are not yet at the level where we would like to be.”

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What do you think about what Pedro de la Rosa said? Do you think Carlos Sainz is under pressure?