Carlos Sainz has yet to sign a deal to secure his F1 future and as the summer break approaches the Spaniard now hints at where he may end up. Following the announcement from Ferrari they were replacing Carlos with Lewis Hamilton, Sainz Jnr has performed exceptionally well and sits just eight points behind his favoured team mate Charles Leclerc.

This despite missing out in Saudi Arabia when on Saturday morning the Spaniard was admitted to hospital for an emergency appendectomy. Oliver Bearman stepped up and qualified the Ferrari car in P11 and making progress in the race to finish P7.

Sainz bounced back just two weeks later winning the Australian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen’s Red Bull gave up the ghost. With a race win each the Ferrari duo are equal with five podiums this year, although the challenge of the SF-24 has faltered over the past four race weekends.

 

 

 

Sainz compares favourably to Leclerc

Sainz is a respectable 7-5 down to Leclerc in Grand Prix qualifying this year and the battle is even closer when looking at the race day head to head (6-5) in favour of there Monegasque driver.

Carlos was in discussions with Mercedes earlier this year, although Toto Wolff suggested Sainz look elsewhere as the Mercedes decision on replacing Hamilton may come much later in the season. Yet since Silverstone a potential move to the silver arrows appears back on the cars since Toto Wolff appeared to leave the door ajar telling Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo that Carlos is “still an option” for the Silver Arrows.”

It was expected that Sainz would sign for Williams and it be announced at the Spanish grand Prix weekend, although this never came to pass and a grumpy James Vowles refused to comment on the matter that weekend.

Much has been made that this was the weekend Flavio Briatore was appointed as a special consultant other than Alpine and was seen performing shuttle diplomacy in Barcelona between Alpine and the Sainz Jnr camp. Whilst Alpine are down in the dumps this season, it was mooted they were about to do a deal to ditch the Renault power unit in favour of a tie up with Mercedes.

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Bottas” “one piece to fall into place”

Where this leaves Renault as far as their contractual obligations to deliver a new power unit in 2026 is not clear, yet the Mercedes rumour would make them a more attractive option for Sainz who appears to have now ruled out Sauber/Audi.

Valtteri Bottas suggested in Austria he was close to a new deal for 2025, but implied he was waiting for Sainz to make a decision on whether to join Williams.

“I was hoping there would be decisions made earlier this week, but deadlines got pushed back again. So, that’s the situation, nothing new from last weekend,” the Finn revealed.

“So obviously, kind of waiting for one piece to fall into place. And then it should all happen pretty quick.”

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Sainz says Red Bull and Mercedes still options

Williams team boss has indicated they will be ditching their recent history of recruiting young drivers who bring money to the team. Having signed Alex Albon on a long term contract, James Vowles revealed in Canada that “Williams number one target, is Carlos Sainz.”

Of course Bottas represents a next best option for experience given in his time at Mercedes he racked up ten Grand Prix victories over Lewis Hamilton.

“Williams is a team that, as you say, is super emblematic in Formula 1,” Sainz said in Hungary. “Yes, it is one of the few that I have left

“Red Bull Racing too, Mercedes too, there are two or three teams that I have not yet been to that I might go to in the future. I don’t know when, to be honest, because the future still seems to be quite uncertain, not even I know, to give you an idea.

“What I do know is that I have been in five different teams in these ten years, as I told you before, and I have very good memories of each team that I have been in. I know that if tomorrow the opportunity arises to return to any of these teams, then I can go back, so I’ll stick with it.”

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Alpine look to be more attractive

Sainz has in fact driven for Toro Rosso (2015-17), Renault (2018-19), McLaren (2020-21) and then at Ferrari ever since – which in fact is four teams in ten years Carlos, but whose counting?

Today motorsport.com are reporting Alpine are closing in on a deal to run a Mercedes power unit and gearbox next season with talks in “an advanced stage” and an “agreement in principle” reached. While this would make the French owned team more competitive given their lack of horsepower at present, yet the chaos in the organisation over the past years is hardly attractive.

Mercedes are losing customer Aston Martin to Honda in 2026 and Toto Wolff has previously indicated they may look for a team to take the place of the Silverstone based outfit.

When asked directly about this at the recent British Grand Prix, the Mercedes boss stated: “I think that’s a complicated situation because we like the thought of, you know, replacing Aston Martin with another team because of the sheer learning you’re doing.

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Gasly engaged to persuade Sainz

“I think we’re set up as an organisation that the more power units, the better it is in terms of accelerating some of the developments or the reliability.”

At the drivers’ press conference in Hungary, Tom Clarkson asked Pierre Gasly if he’d been engaged by Alpine to persuade Carlos Sainz to join them.

“I did my fair share of the job,” he said. “But ultimately, I believe in the project we’re building with Alpine. I always back the team up. Now it’s up to him to make his own decision.”

With possibilities at Mercedes, even Red Bull, Williams, Sauber/Audi, Alpine and Haas F1 not yet filled, Sainz is responsible for a number of ‘concerned’ drivers berg unable to secure their futures beyond this season.

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Wolff’s revealing update on Hamilton’s replacement

Toto Wolff admitted prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix, that his old rival Dr. Helmut Marko was correct about Mercedes’ Achilles heel being hot weather conditions. Having won in Austria and at Silverstone where the track and air temperatures were cool, Mercedes faced the race at the Budapest circuit with trepidation.

The team made a glaring error in qualifying as on a drying track they failed to fuel George Russell to run to the end of the Q1 session. Such was the track evolution that last over the line in Q1 was Daniel Ricciardo who in his V-CARB topped that sessions time sheets.

Hamilton too was on the cusp in the second qualy session before   becoming the meat in a Ferrari sandwich as he qualified fifth behind Charles Leclerc and ahead of Carlos Sainz. After a messy start Hamilton ran behind Verstappen as the pair commenced their battle for P3 which would run to the end of the Grand Prix… READ MORE