Carlos Sainz issues ‘speed up’ message to ‘pretty much all’ potential 2025 F1 teams
Carlos Sainz is keen to have his future sorted 'sooner rather than later'
Padding his CV with an Australian Grand Prix victory, Carlos Sainz is talking to “pretty much” all the F1 teams about 2025 with the Spaniard keen to get his future sorted.
Dropped by Ferrari even before the first race of this championship, Sainz has emerged as the Scuderia’s star driver with two podiums in three races including the win in Melbourne.
‘So we’re talking to pretty much all of them’
P1 ahead of his team-mate Charles Leclerc at the Albert Park circuit, Sainz remains the only non-Red Bull driver to have won a Grand Prix since 2022.
That he did it just two weeks after surgery for appendicitis only added to what has been a rollercoaster three months for the Spaniard.
The big question is what comes next, not so much for this year but next season.
The 29-year-old has been linked to Red Bull and Mercedes, as well as Audi and Aston Martin.
But it has been suggested that Red Bull’s timeframe, and perhaps Mercedes’ too, could be the big stumbling blocks in those negotiations with neither team in a hurry to sign their second 2025 driver.
Sainz, though, is ready for the talks to “speed up”.
“Talking to a few because that’s what my management team and myself should do when I do not have a job for next year yet,” he said in Japan. “So we’re talking to pretty much all of them.
“It’s just a matter of obviously going more into detail and seeing the more realistic options, and what are the best options for me and for my future.
“I don’t have any news for you, nothing to say here today.
“The only thing I would say is that yeah, obviously it’s time now to speed up everything a bit and hopefully we can get it sorted sooner rather than later.”
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Ferrari lacking a ‘couple of tenths’ on the Red Bull
Although Sainz won in Australia, he is cautious about his chances at the Suzuka circuit as while Ferrari have taken a step forward with the SF-24, the Scuderia are still a few tenths down on Red Bull’s RB20.
“I think it’s true to say that in Australia, we looked very strong,” he said. “But I think normally in these cases, you just need to get the average of the first few races, and I think the average is we’re still a couple of tenths off the Red Bull.
“And we need probably an upgrade especially at tracks like Suzuka to fight them.
“I think the job we’ve done this year is extremely good because the car is a very good step forward. It’s just we need more of the same if we want to go for wins at tracks like Japan.
“There is no big big upgrade coming here, we have a very small thing in the car, at the rear, but it will come later in the season and I hope that is another good step in the same direction.”
Having turned the page on his Australian Grand Prix win, first and foremost he’s hoping for a better Japanese GP than Ferrari’s 2023 performance where they were over 40s down on race winner Verstappen.
“I think it’s important like I’ve always said, to turn the page quickly in the good and the bad,” he added. “I think obviously coming from a good it is more difficult to turn the page because you want to stay in the moment but I turned it on Monday, started focusing my training and being back as possible for Japan.
“It’s going to be challenging for us. I think last year it was one of our most challenging ones. I think we were seven or eight-tenths off Red Bull four or five months ago here.
“So it’s time to see where we are this year, and see if we can be at least closer and enjoy a bit more than this amazing track than what we enjoyed it last year because for me it’s one of my favourite ones, if not my favourite.”
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