Carlos Sainz torn on crucial F1 career choice with ‘coin toss’ decision imminent
Carlos Sainz has plenty of options for 2025, leading to him dragging his heels over accepting a team's contract offer.
Carlos Sainz is eager to make a decision on his F1 future for 2025, but has admitted he’s still torn as to what decision to make as he has plenty of options.
Sainz is currently the main player on the F1 driver market for 2025, following Ferrari’s decision to remove him from his seat in order to bring in seven-time F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton alongside Charles Leclerc.
Carlos Sainz: A decision on my future will be made soon
With Sainz becoming a free agent off the back of Ferrari being unable to resist the allure of signing Hamilton moreso than dropping the Spaniard due to his performance level, Sainz has become a key figure with so many teams having free seats for next year.
While the door to Red Bull was shut as the Milton Keynes-based squad stuck with Sergio Perez alongside Max Verstappen, and Mercedes talks came to an end as a result of differing perspectives on how long the two sides wanted to make a deal happen, Sainz revealed this week he’s had a contract offer from every team with a free cockpit available.
Spoiled for choice, Sainz has to make the difficult call of who to take a gamble on – particularly with the 2026 regulations being set to tear up the formbook, meaning there’s no team at which he’s guaranteed a competitive car.
“The latest is that a decision will be taken very soon,” Sainz told media, including PlanetF1.com, at the Spanish Grand Prix press conference on Thursday.
“I don’t want to wait any longer. I think it’s getting to a point where it’s taking space out of my head for some weeks and months now. It’s time to make a decision and that decision will be taken soon.
“So, hopefully soon, we will have things to talk about.”
But, when pressed on whether he’s figured out the path he wants to take, Sainz said he remains uncertain about who to sign with – adding to the delays.
“No, that’s the thing. I’m still not sure one way or the other,” he said.
“It’s still something I’m discussing with my team, and brainstorming obviously.
“I need a couple of days at home. Before the Spanish Grand Prix, I was at home, but you don’t have the head in the future – you have your head in the Spanish Grand Prix, it has been a very hectic couple of weeks after Canada for me so I haven’t had time to sit down and make a decision.
“So this is what I’ll target in the next few weeks.”
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While 2026 is the obvious long-term hurdle to think about, next season – the last of the current regulations – is also important for Sainz and is easier to predict who may or may not be competitive given the current state of play.
For instance, the arrival of Audi in 2026 could transform the prospects of the current Sauber team, with the Swiss outfit struggling to join in the fight for points at this moment in time – Audi is known to be very keen on signing the Spaniard to race alongside the already-confirmed Nico Hulkenberg.
The Australian Grand Prix winner said that trying to figure out who offers the best long-term prospects while also trying to make sure he doesn’t take a big step back in 2025 is a key factor in why it’s taking so long to decide.
“I think 2026, guessing now in 2024 who is going to be performing better is almost impossible,” he said.
“It is a bit of a lottery, or a coin toss, to see who’s going to be quicker in ’26 given that the regulations are so different.
“The cars are completely different – the chassis, the engine, it’s almost impossible to predict who’s going to be performing in ’26.
“So yes, then 2025 becomes also important at that stage, if I cannot predict ’26 and I don’t know who’s going to be performing better, then 2025 is important for me to know and it is also the long term.
“It is also trying to understand the power unit side, trying to understand the team dynamics. All these factors come into play when making a decision, and that’s why it’s taking long and it’s taking time for me to find some time within myself to take the decision.”
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