Karun Chandhok pinpoints the ‘clumsy’ Carlos Sainz incident that cost Ferrari the 2024 title

Ferrari took the fight for the Constructors’ Championship to the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, but ultimately missed out to McLaren.

It did look like that Red Bull would continue their dominance from 2023 into this season when Max Verstappen won seven of the opening 10 races – three of those being one-two finishes.

But after the Spanish Grand Prix, Red Bull suffered a sudden dip in performance as the likes of McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes caught the Milton Keynes-based outfit in their development.

Verstappen went on a 10-race winless run but was still able to deliver strong results in a car that was proving difficult to drive. Sergio Perez’s woeful form was ultimately a huge factor in the team falling out of the title picture – the Mexican did not finish in the top five after Miami and suffered four retirements and four non-points finishes after that race.

During Verstappen’s losing streak, McLaren and Ferrari proved to be the teams to beat, winning four and three races respectively from Barcelona to Sao Paulo – where the Dutchman put the drivers’ title almost out of reach.

The battle for the Constructors’ Championship went down to the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Despite Carlos Sainz finishing second and a herculean effort from Charles Leclerc to finish third from P19, Lando Norris’ victory was enough as McLaren edged out Ferrari by just 14 points.

Karun Chandhok says Carlos Sainz’s ‘clumsy’ crash in Baku ultimately cost Ferrari the title

Several incidents in 2024 can be argued as the most costly for Ferrari in their bid to win their first constructors’ title since 2008.

The team suffered a double retirement at the Canadian Grand Prix, before bringing a new upgrade to Barcelona which failed miserably. Leclerc suffered two dismal weekends in a row at Spielberg and Silverstone which saw no points in either race.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

But for Karun Chandhok, the incident the title ‘all hinged on’ for Ferrari was Sainz’s crash at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. With two laps to go, the Spaniard was fighting Leclerc and Perez for second, when he collided with the Red Bull on the back straight and took them both out of the race.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, Chandhok said: “Actually when you look back at the season, all it kind of hinged on is Baku. If Carlos Sainz and Perez hadn’t have had that awkward crash with a lap or so to go, then Ferrari would have been constructors’ champions.

“That was the difference because Lando gained a couple of places and Carlos would have been second or third which would have been 18 or 15 points and that would have been enough.

“For me, that crash was kind of a clumsy one, wasn’t it? It was like an unnecessary, it was just a clumsy, unnecessary accident, I felt. It’s just one of those frustrating, unlucky things where both drivers are heading for the same bit of road at the same time.”

Can Carlos Sainz perform at Williams in 2025 after leaving Ferrari?

Heading into the 2025 season, Sainz will be departing Ferrari after four seasons with the team to make way for the arrival of Lewis Hamilton.

The 30-year-old will partner Alex Albon at Williams next season. While there were limited options for Sainz in 2025, many have questioned whether the move to the Grove-based outfit was the right decision – given that he is leaving the second-best team in 2024 to join the second-worst team.

But Williams is a team making huge strides off the track to improve on it, and James Vowles says Sainz’s arrival has already impacted Williams’ focus as they now have ‘two leaders’ in their cars that can push boundaries and get the team back to the heights they once had.

However, Ted Kravitz says Williams must ‘step up’ when Sainz arrives as he comes to the team as a race winner and with more experience than the likes of Nicholas Latifi, Logan Sargeant and Franco Colapinto.

Sainz says Williams is ‘100% not a step back from Ferrari as he is just happy to stay in F1. But the question everyone will be asking is if he can produce the goods at Williams in a car that is likely to be somewhere at the back in 2025.