Carlos Sainz Jnr says he hopes to secure a seat on the 2025 grid “sooner rather than later” following his Australian Grand Prix win.
The Ferrari driver is competing in his final season with the team, who have signed Lewis Hamilton to take his place in 2025.Hamilton’s arrival has left Sainz out of a seat for next season and he is yet to sign a contract with a team to remain on the grid next year. Sainz is the only driver other than Max Verstappen to win a grand prix over the last 21 rounds and says he is in active discussions with many teams about a 2025 drive.
“I’ve been talking, obviously, to a few, because that’s what my management team and myself should do when I don’t have a job for next year yet,” he said. “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 for my future. I don’t have any news for you or anything to say here today. The only thing I would say is that obviously it’s time now to speed up a bit everything and hopefully we can get it sorted sooner rather than later.”
Despite Ferrari disrupting Red Bull’s winning start to the season, Sainz is not convinced they have drawn level with the world champions in performance.
“It’s true to say that in Australia we looked very strong, but I think normally in these cases we just need to take the average of the first few races and I think the average is still a couple of tenths off the Red Bull,” he said.
“We need probably an upgrade, especially in tracks like Suzuka, to fight them. I think the job that the team has 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 the wins in tracks like maybe 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 it’s another good step in the same direction.”
Sainz won the Australian Grand Prix despite not being at full fitness following emergency appendix surgery which put him out of the race in Jeddah. Almost four weeks on from the operation he feels almost fully recovered.
“I’ve been riding my bike this week, I stayed in Australia for a week and started going back to the gym,” he continued. “I’m still obviously not lifting heavy numbers like I used to do in the past, but at least I can get my training done and I’m feeling back to a hundred percent.”
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2024 Japanese Grand Prix
- “Am I in a race here or what?”: How Ferrari aced their Suzuka strategies
- Suzuka showed Mercedes “have a more stable platform” now
- Ferrari’s strategy gains in 2024 are “purely down to the car” – Sainz
- Tsunoda ‘at Verstappen and Alonso’s level’ with Suzuka performance – Marko
- Japan was first race where Red Bull’s winning margin was bigger than last year
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
4th April 2024, 8:06
With the metric that a driver is only as good as his last drive, it’s understandable he wants to benefit from the peak of his stocks to discuss contract.
Given the situation at RedBull, it feels Sainz situation might speed up the talks. Either to have Verstappen confirming he’ll stay if he wants to veto Sainz arrival or signing Sainz to guarantee a driver that can fight for WDC if the car is good.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
4th April 2024, 10:40
@jeanrien
Horner do have a preference for Alonso, he tried to sign him back in 2014 but Helmut Marko managed to convince Dietrich Mateschitz to promote Daniel Ricciardo instead. Knowing Horner, he’ll likely make a move for one of them to retaliate against the Verstappens, asserting his authority and reminding them who’s in charge. Sainz’s also is under Toto’s radar.
Nick T.
4th April 2024, 20:28
Horner has stated he doesn’t want to ultra alphas in the same team. So, I doubt it. It’s been Marko who has been most vocal about him considering Alonso the closest driver to Max in his opinion. But we never get exciting pairings like this since 2007, which was a fluke though. It’s what made Ferrari’s signing of Hamilton so surprising even if Sainz is driving much better right now.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
4th April 2024, 23:45
Well, actually ferrari did it few years ago too, when they had vettel, who was still decent before 2020 and hired leclerc for 2019, they were very close in points and were in effect 2 alphas, even if vettel was no longer like at red bull.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
4th April 2024, 23:46
Hamilton and russell at mercedes can also be considered like that.
Jere (@jerejj)
4th April 2024, 9:33
I was surprised by the ‘staying in Australia for a week’ reference because I was sure everyone would’ve returned to Europe, given the interval length, but more relevantly, his current stock should definitely help him with next year’s opportunities.
BasCB (@bascb)
4th April 2024, 14:52
When we think about it – he’s still recovering and with the easter weekend in between, he probably wouldn’t be doing much simulator running for now either. So to stay in Australia, helping by staying in the timezone, not flying too much and just being able to work on his fitness/recovery makes sense IMO.
Apexor
5th April 2024, 1:55
Nico Rosberg would be an awesome return. No one’s talking about him I know he retired after winning his first title. Carlos Sainzs would good swap. Fernando Alonso another great driver hungry for another title. Or add Mick Shumacher and give him a chance to drive in a better car.