Monday, June 24, 2024, 16:21
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Carlos Sainz, as of the date of this news, does not have a confirmed team for 2025. The man from Madrid has been testing the market for months, and although his name has been heard by practically all the teams present in the championship, every twist of the script that this story gives It is more bizarre than the previous one. The last one was experienced among the garages of the paddock of the Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya.
It all has its origins in January 2024. Although he was, and is, well regarded at Ferrari, the possibility of bringing in Lewis Hamilton was too tempting for Fred Vasseur to waste it. Objectively, any team on the current grid would have serious doubts if they received the call from the seven-time world champion. Although he is not living his sweetest days, no one denies the intrinsic quality of a Hamilton who has broken almost all the records, and who even today and is the second oldest driver on the grid (only surpassed by his closest enemy Fernando Alonso) is an asset to take into account. With Charles Leclerc as ‘il predestinato’ immovable and already renewed from before, the collateral victim was Carlos Sainz. Thank you for the services provided, but goodbye.
It was not what Sainz expected, who experienced a similar situation but on the other side of the mirror when he signed for Ferrari in the midst of renewal negotiations with McLaren. Now the scenario is very different, because the calls he has received are not so attractive… except for one. The butterfly effect caused by Hamilton left a desirable free seat at Mercedes, which to this day remains unconfirmed, so the Spaniard has been waiting until the end. The negotiations, some of them staged with ‘innocent’ coffees in the paddock in front of the television cameras, between Carlos Sainz Sr. and Toto Wolff have also not come to fruition. Because the two-time world rally champion is acting as manager in these operations, above Caco Oñoro, the driver’s cousin and right-hand man.
With Mercedes lying fallow, the most logical option was Audi. Andreas Seidl, who was Sainz’s boss at McLaren, is the one who takes the reins of the future team of the four rings, but the problem is that signing for them is a toss-up. And not only because it implies ‘eating’ a year in Stake F1, Sauber’s passing name until it becomes Audi, but because given the change in regulations in 2026 it may or may not turn out well for them. The Germans have no doubt that Sainz would be a more than acceptable addition to their project, but just in case they have already acquired a veteran driver with certain guarantees, Nico Hulkenberg, who without having the Spaniard’s track record can already give them a minimum foundations in the sporting aspect beyond the technical one.
As it is, in these six months the doors have begun to close and the windows begin to get smaller and smaller. The very remote possibility of Red Bull was settled with the difficult to explain renewal of Sergio Pérez, while at Mercedes they are beginning to see it as very attractive to raise the talent Kimi Antonelli and leave George Russell the possibility of leading the project in the future, which he has well earned. in his seasons alongside Hamilton. With no room in other powerful teams, such as McLaren, or mid-table teams, such as Aston Martin, the possibility of joining Audi began to be more than attractive considering the alternatives. But he waited so long and gave them so much trouble that even there he seems to find no accommodation.
That’s where the possibility of Williams came in. Historical team, with a memorable track record, myths in its history such as Alan Jones, Keke Rosberg, Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost or Ayrton Senna (until he was killed behind the wheel of one of his cars) and little else. And what was once a giant is today an almost demolished giant that is sad for the last positions on the grid and that is constantly for sale. Signing for them, even if they have a recapitalization and ‘black leg’ Mercedes engines in the immediate future, is not the most attractive thing but it is almost the only thing they had left.
And everything was ready to be confirmed this Sunday, before the race… Until Flavio Briatore arrived. The new executive director of Alpine (a Chinese vase for the old Renault that wants to turn him into the Niki Lauda that Mercedes had) has presented an offer to the Sainz for the Madrid native to replace the deposed Ocon. His good relationship with Gasly, his knowledge of the team (he raced for Renault in 2018) and the fact that he is slightly more attractive than Williams has caused this proposed announcement to come to a screeching halt. Everything indicates that this week, before arriving in Austria, will be the decisive one to know the fate of Sainz, but the options are summarized in three: Audi, Williams or Alpine.
The driver is at a key moment in his career, and it no longer costs him anything to leave Ferrari. He demonstrated it in Montmeló, including a fight with Leclerc who criticized him for having defended the position with some aggression. Sainz doesn’t care much: after all, what are they going to do to him at Ferrari? Kick him out?
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2024-06-24 14:21:24
#ups #downs #Carlos #Sainz #Briatore #middle
