Carlos Sainz puts two huge options back on table for next F1 2025 move

Carlos Sainz has still yet to decide upon his next move in Formula 1, but admitted that Red Bull and Mercedes are still potential options for him in the future – even if a move to either team does not come to pass next season.

Sainz is seen as the sport’s most sought-after driver on the market as his time with Ferrari comes to a close at the end of the season, with Lewis Hamilton arriving at Maranello in his place next season.

Carlos Sainz keeping options open in ‘uncertain’ future beyond F1 2025

The 29-year-old has been clear that he still has not decided upon where he will be going next in his career, with Williams having been open in making him their primary target to partner Alex Albon, alongside long-known interest from Audi and more recent reported courting from Alpine.

While both seats at Red Bull are filled contractually beyond the end of the year, the future of Sergio Perez is under the spotlight and is believed to be uncertain as it stands, while Mercedes are looking to fill the seat vacated by Hamilton.

When asked about the links with Williams and how he has driven for some of the most iconic teams on the grid already, Sainz is keen to not shut down links to a future drive with anyone just yet.

“Williams is, as you say, a super-emblematic Formula 1 team,” Sainz told the Spanish edition of GQ when asked about his future and reminded they are one of the teams he has yet to drive for in his career.

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“Yes, it’s one of the few that I have left, Red Bull Racing too, Mercedes too, there are two or three teams that I haven’t been with yet, but maybe in the future I will go with them, I don’t know when, because the future still seems to be quite uncertain, I don’t even know, just to give you an idea.

“What I do know is that I have been in five different teams in these ten years, as I said before, and I have very good memories of every team I have been in and I know that if tomorrow I have the opportunity to come back to any of these teams, I can come back, so I will keep it.”

Sainz has often been spoken about as one of the sport’s most underrated drivers over the years, taking his first win at Silverstone in 2022, but he believes it is a label he has never felt among those in the know within the paddock.

“Honestly, I don’t think so by the people who know the sport well,” he responded when asked if he had ever felt ‘undervalued’ in Formula 1.

“I have never felt undervalued by team managers, drivers or people who are very involved in the day-to-day running of the sport. Neither by the engineers, nor by the people who follow the details.

“Perhaps by the media or by people who understand a little less or who follow the sport a little more superficially and who are not involved in the detail, it is possible that I have been paid less attention or underestimated at times.

“But as I always say, the people who matter to me are those who really understand the sport, and in that sense I have never felt undervalued by my rivals, by the engineers and by the team managers.”

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