Yahoo Autos Sainz feeling pressure to settle his F1 future but sees no clear path yet
Carlos Sainz says he is still unsure where he is going to drive in 2025 but doesn’t want to wait any longer before making a decision on which team to join.
Williams, Stake and Alpine are believed to be the three main options available to the Ferrari driver, with Alpine seen as the clear outsider of the three as he weights up the future works team at Audi and the Mercedes-backed Williams project. The media focus on his future has ramped up even further this week ahead of his home Spanish Grand Prix, and Sainz admits he has reached the point where he wants to have the topic off his mind.
“The latest is that a decision will be taken very soon,” Sainz said. “I don’t want to wait any longer. I think it’s getting to a point where it’s obviously taking space out of my head for quite a few weeks and months and I think it’s obviously time to make a decision. So hopefully soon we will have things to talk about.”
However, Sainz insisted that his desire to finalize his future does not mean he has a clear decision in mind.
“No, that’s the thing. I’m still not sure one way or another,” he said. “It’s still something that I’m discussing with my team and brainstorming and obviously I need a couple of days back at home and before the Spanish Grand Prix.
“I’ve been at home, but you don’t have you head in the future, you have your head in the Spanish Grand Prix. It’s been a very hectic couple of weeks after Canada for me. So I haven’t had time to really sit down and take a decision. And this is what I will target in the next few weeks.”
The Spaniard says the reason his decision is proving so difficult is based on the desire to have as competitive a car as possible next season, but also to join a team that offers a chance of being strong under future regulations too.
“I think 2026, guessing now in 2024 who is going to be performing better is almost impossible,” he admitted. “I think I used the term a bit of a lottery or a coin toss. To see who is going to be quicker in 2026, given that the regulation is so different, the cars are completely different, the chassis, the engine, it’s almost impossible to predict who is going to be performing in 2026.
“So then ’25 becomes also important. At that stage, if I cannot predict ‘26 and I don’t know who’s going to be performing better, then ‘25 is important for me to know. And it is also the long-term — trying to understand the power unit side, trying to understand the team dynamics. All these factors come into play when taking a decision. That’s why it’s taking time for me to find some time within myself to take the decision.”