Lewis Hamilton put on notice by Carlos Sainz as Ferrari face anxious wait at US GP

could be in for an anxious final few weeks of the 2024 F1 season after his shock decision to move from for . In February this year, the seven-time world champion confirmed he would be ending a 12-year association with the Silver Arrows having .

The switch will surely represent Hamilton's final tilt at winning an unprecedented eighth drivers' crown, with his contract taking him past his 41st birthday.

So the performance of the Italian giants in the final six races of this campaign will be arguably as critical to him as how Mercedes fare, especially given the latest comments of .

The Spaniard will join Williams next year having had to make way for Hamilton and has won just once in Australia in his farewell season. Team-mate has twice taken the chequered flag, with Ferrari third in the Constructors' race and 75 points off leaders .

The team have enjoyed an upturn in form , but Sainz Jnr has insisted that only it will be their performance in Austin this weekend, and the races that follow, that will define their progress. "I think the more tracks that we've done since Monza, the more confident we are that the upgrades we brought to the car have started to work everywhere," he said.

"But I've always said, until we go to Austin and we try them in a normal track, we will not be able to measure how much we've actually improved on tracks like Zandvoort and Spa, where we last struggled a bit more. So I think this will be the most important test so far for us."

Should Ferrari's displays drop off, Hamilton's hopes of challenging in 2025 will be dented before he even sets foot with his new team. Especially given the current pace of McLaren, with Lando Norris having propelled himself back into this year's title race as he hunts down Max Verstappen.

Unlike the British driver, the focus on Ferrari for Sainz is confined to between now and December. And he hasn't ruled out him and Leclerc pulling off an unlikely Constructors' win this season, despite admitting the track venues to come will make a sizeable task even more difficult.

"I think a lot of our belief in the constructors' title will come over the next couple of races," he continued. "If from here to the end, all the races were like Singapore, Baku and Monza, we would believe that we can do it.

"If in Austin, Mexico, Brazil, that are more standard tracks, we see ourselves falling back a bit and being like we were in Zandvoort or Spa, obviously our belief goes down. We are coming back to normal tracks with long combined corners, high-speed corners. Let's see where we are now in these kind of tracks."

Sainz is currently fifth in the individual standings on 190 points, 16 ahead of Hamilton. He finished in the same position in both 2021 and 2022, and needs to make up 47 points on Oscar Piastri ahead of him to secure a career best placing of fourth overall.

Should Ferrari's displays drop off, Hamilton's hopes of challenging in 2025 will be dented before he even sets foot with his new team. Especially given the current pace of McLaren, with having propelled himself back into this year's title race as he hunts down Max Verstappen.

Unlike the British driver, the focus on Ferrari for Sainz is confined to between now and December. And he hasn't ruled out him and Leclerc pulling off an unlikely Constructors' win this season, despite admitting the track venues to come will make a sizeable task even more difficult.

"I think a lot of our belief in the constructors' title will come over the next couple of races," he continued. "If from here to the end, all the races were like Singapore, Baku and Monza, we would believe that we can do it.

"If in Austin, Mexico, Brazil, that are more standard tracks, we see ourselves falling back a bit and being like we were in Zandvoort or Spa, obviously our belief goes down. We are coming back to normal tracks with long combined corners, high-speed corners. Let's see where we are now in these kind of tracks."

Sainz is currently fifth in the individual standings on 190 points, 16 ahead of Hamilton. He finished in the same position in both 2021 and 2022, and needs to make up 47 points on ahead of him to secure a career best placing of fourth overall.