Carlos Sainz has an “improved” Alpine offer on a three-team shortlist to decide his future.
But the Ferrari driver has admitted ahead of this weekend’s F1 Austrian Grand Prix that ongoing talks, with unnamed individuals, over the past weeks have impacted his trust of many figures within the paddock.
Sainz must choose between Alpine, Williams and Sauber (who will become Audi) for next year, when Lewis Hamilton will replace him at Ferrari.
F1 correspondent Lawrence Barretto reported in Austria: “Alpine’s next task is to nail down their second seat.
“They are chasing Carlos Sainz, having been in talks for months, and improved their offer recently.
“I understand Sainz hasn’t made a call on his future yet, with three offers (the others from Williams and Sauber/Audi) on the table.”
Sainz said at the Red Bull Ring: “The situation that I’ve been in this year has made me learn a lot about Formula One, in general.
“By talking to teams, it has kind of showed me how tough this sport is, how little sometimes you have to believe what people say at the beginning of negotiations, conversations.
“And mainly also to trust very little people in the paddock, because it’s really a very political sport.
“There’s a lot of things like this involved, and it’s made me understand that it’s a very tough sport in that sense, and understand the better picture of Formula One, without going too much into detail.
“For other teams, obviously, I’ve learned a lot in which position they are in.
“And the teams that I’m potentially moving to next year, I’ve obviously dug in a lot into the state that they are in, and the situation that there is.
“It’s also [given] me probably a better understanding of Formula One and where each team is.”
Approaching the second race of a triple-header – bookended by his home race in Spain and Silverstone – Sainz has paused the big decision over his 2025 drive.
“No it’s obviously not the right time,” he insisted.
“Probably a triple header isn’t the right time to go back home and take the decision with my team and put all the options on the table and think carefully what is best for me, for my future, for my career.
“So obviously no, it’s not now the right time.”
Sainz was previously linked to the vacant Mercedes left behind by Hamilton until Toto Wolff made it clear that he was no longer under consideration.
Sergio Perez’s and Fernando Alonso’s new contracts at Red Bull and Aston Martin respectively closed the door to two attractive options.
The 2025 F1 driver line-up is awaiting Sainz’s decision with many more dominoes to fall, depending which way he opts to go.