by VALERIO BARRETTA
Sainz, all doors are open
Carlos Sainz is still taking time to choose the team to race for in 2025. The Spaniard, whose marriage to Ferrari will end at the end of the year, still doesn’t have a team for next year and is the most attractive driver on the market (unless of a rift between Max Verstappen and Red Bull). Which should guarantee him a sought-after seat for 2025. Yet the difficulties of accommodation for Smooth Operator there are many, and in recent hours rumors have come from England that categorically excluded the Mercedes hypothesis.
Sainz’s words
The Spaniard, in the Monte-Carlo press conference, shut down these indiscretions: “I can’t confirm it“, this was the answer to those who asked him if Mercedes had “closed the door” on him.
The #55 wants to keep all avenues open to be competitive in the short-medium term: “I don’t know my future yet, I haven’t yet decided where I will race in 2025. I don’t want to impose any deadlines on myself, it’s a decision I have to think about carefully“.
The hypothesis
A “I do not confirm”, however, is not a denial. Sainz expected, and perhaps hoped, that the crisis between Verstappen and Red Bull would lead to a farewell from Super Max. Which at least for now has not happened, and it is clear that – as long as the world champion remains in Milton Keynes – going to Red Bull it means condemning yourself to a secondary role. They therefore remain on the table Mercedes And Sauber, or Aston Martin (but in this case Lawrence Stroll needs to abandon “family” politics and leave Lance behind). At Brackley for now they have offered Sainz an annual contract with an option, because Toto Wolff has fallen in love with Andrea Kimi Antonelli and wants him on the seat with the new generation of power unit. If nothing changes, Sainz will only be left with Sauber, which will become Audi in 2026. An ambitious project but which (like everything done on paper) presents question marks. Smooth Operatorwhich initially ignored Audi’s deadline, could soon surrender to this prospect, accept a 2025 in purgatory and hope for the wild card – 2026.
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