As the wait continues for confirmation of Carlos Sainz‘s plans for 2025, the Spaniard has admitted that the politics within the Formula 1 paddock have at times made the negotiation process “tough” to navigate.
Ahead of last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, Sainz said he hoped to announce his new home for next season “very soon”. However, no news came and with the class now amid a triple-header, it is unlikely word will come anytime soon.
Sainz was dumped from his seat by Ferrari ahead of this season with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton announced that he would depart Mercedes to join the team on a multi-year deal from next year.
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Following his race victory in Australia during round three of the championship, Sainz has been closely linked to Sauber and Williams. However, it is also understood that Alpine has tabled an enticing offer to have Sainz join Pierre Gasly at the French constructor.
On exploring the driver market, Sainz said that he was learning a lot about his suitors, including the current situation and forward plans of each team.
However, with this he often finds it difficult to believe different positions in negotiations, adding that there are few people in the paddock that he fully trusts.
“By talking to teams it has kind of shown me how tough this sport is and how little sometimes you have to believe what people say at the beginning of negotiations, conversations — mainly people,” he said.
“Also to trust very few 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 it’s a very tough sport in that sense and understand a better picture of Formula 1 without going too much into detail.”
In making his decision, Sainz remarked that he was trying not to read too much into the recent performances of his interested teams and instead focus on what those constructors can offer him in the future.
“I’m doing the exercise within myself and my team to really try to avoid looking at each race performance of each team and just focus on the project and the feeling that I get by talking to each team and obviously looking at the contracts,” he said.
“I agree, it’s not easy because sometimes you — [you’re] competitive spirit — you just try and see who is faster, but I don’t think the last race of each team is also a representative point of where they’re going to be in the next couple of years.”
Last week, Haas driver Kevin Magnussen described Sainz as the “cork in the bottle” of the 2025 grid — expecting a flurry of deals to be done once Sainz lands on his decision.