Carlos Sainz has already embarked on the search for a 2025 F1 seat after his father was spotted speaking with Red Bull bosses at the Bahrain pre-season test
Carlos Sainz revealed that he is looking for a project that allows him to win as he searches for a new team in a bid to guarantee his seat for 2025 F1 after announcing his departure from Ferrari.
This comes as seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is set to leave Mercedes after a decade and join Ferrari for the 2025 season therefore taking his seat. This leaves Sainz without a drive prompting the hunt for a new team.
Nobody felt this more profoundly than Carlos Sainz Jr as he will be replaced by Hamilton at the end of the season despite his strong performance for Ferrari over the past three seasons.
However, he will not be short of interest across the grid following a particularly strong 2022 season in which he achieved nine podiums during the height of Max Verstappen’s dominant reign.
Carlos Sainz Sr. was spotted with Red Bull bosses Christian Horner, Helmut Marko, and Adrian Newey as the F1 paddock continues to shape up for the season following Hamilton’s shocking switch to Ferrari.
Red Bull and the Sainz family have established a strong relationship since Sainz’s days as a rally racer. The energy drinks company and the state of Qatar sponsored him to race in the Dakar Rally from 2013 to 2014.
The meeting will undoubtedly cause a stir in the paddock with Red Bull’s second driver Sergio Perez having his contract expire at the end of the season.
The Mexican driver has the unfortunate responsibility of battling it out in the same car as Verstappen given his teammate’s consistent performance outshining him through their tenure at the team.
Because of this, Perez has faced tremendous pressure from above, and in 2024, he will undoubtedly be racing with his long-term F1 future at stake.
Since there’s a good chance that an opening at Red Bull might be available in 2025, Sainz will undoubtedly be under the team’s consideration. The Spaniard possesses the type of skills that Red Bull looks for in its drivers and has done rather well for Ferrari in recent seasons despite reliability and strategy issues.
If potential suitors were judging Sainz, he performed exceptionally well on Thursday, topping the timesheets for Day 2. Following the day proceedings he was asked what kind of team and project he was interested in joining.
“I am looking for a project first that allows me to win and be performing as soon as possible,” he said. “But also for sure looking at stability and how important stability is in a project in the medium to long term. To build a strong team and a team to understand the driver and the driver to understand the team.
“So with those two things in mind and those two things that you need to put into the equation, I will take my decision, taking my time accordingly.
“Obviously I need conversations with everyone to see what everyone offers and what everyone has in mind.
“Then with all these options in place, I will take what’s best for my career and for myself as an individual and as a driver but the good thing is that I have time.
“If you saw my dad went to say hello to Helmut Marko you need to remember he has a great relationship with him in the same way we have a good relationship with Toto [Wolff].
“With everyone in the grid it is normal at this stage of the year. But also, we haven’t seen each other for three or four months or so you’re going say hello to each other.”
