Carlos Sainz continues to maintain his playing cards near his chest in terms of making a name about the place he’ll drive within the 2025 System 1 season after his Ferrari exit.
The Spaniard’s shortlist seems to have been decreased to 2 groups: Williams or Audi, which is able to be a part of F1 in 2026 whereas it continues to run below its Sauber guise subsequent 12 months.
However which group ought to Sainz choose? Our writers give their verdict.
Oleg Karpov: Audi will construct a group round him
He says it is a lottery, however what Carlos Sainz is about to do is extra like a wager. But selecting between two horses which are at the moment the slowest within the paddock just isn’t one thing he would have imagined a 12 months in the past.
It is exhausting to evaluate from the surface, and solely Sainz himself, and possibly his managers, have the complete image of what these horses shall be fed to make them run quicker within the close to future.However it needs to be Audi, does not it?
The important thing components are all well-known. It is an enormous challenge, it is a main producer, it is ambition, it is cash, it is every little thing.
However it’s additionally a chance for Sainz to lastly have the group constructed round him. Has it occurred to you that each door he has knocked on in current months has been closed for a similar motive?
Max Verstappen, Crimson Bull Racing, and Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari, earlier than the drivers parade
Crimson Bull is constructed round Max Verstappen, and the selection of second driver was additionally (or primarily?) dictated by the necessity to maintain the Dutchman glad. He is been a Crimson Bull driver since he was 16 and it is very a lot his group.
Mercedes just isn’t a lot George Russell’s group but, however Toto Wolff will not be changing Lewis Hamilton with Sainz. And as issues stand, he is ready to promote Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli to F1 as a substitute of taking race winner Sainz.
In any case, when Ferrari needed to resolve who to companion Hamilton with, they selected Charles Leclerc, a Ferrari driver since he was about 4 years {old}. And there is additionally no place for Sainz at McLaren as a result of it is Norris’s group anyway.
Sainz was introduced into F1 by Crimson Bull too, however turned a kind of gifted however unfortunate drivers who had the misfortune to return by way of the system concurrently Verstappen, and it was most likely smart to flee.
However since then, he has by no means fairly discovered the group that will be absolutely behind him. And that could possibly be Audi: a large producer, and an vital challenge for the model.
In the long run, it appears like Audi has a greater likelihood of success than Williams, with all due respect to Dorilton Capital and James Vowles.
A lot has been fabricated from Sauber’s present struggles, however there’s most likely nothing much less vital for the entire challenge than the present outcomes. Do not be fooled by the rhetoric – this can be a group in transition, keen to sacrifice within the quick time period to get higher sooner or later.
Take those pitstop troubles, for example. You would not have heard about them if the group hadn’t determined to radically improve its {hardware}. A number of hiccups throughout a transition interval is a value Andreas Seidl and his group are glad to pay.
And the identical goes for mid-season engineering modifications. Sauber is solely making ready to turn out to be Audi. It will be extra worrying in the event that they began firing on all cylinders now.
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas F1 Workforce,reas Seidl, CEO, Kick Sauber, Beat Zehnder, Sporting Director, Stake F1 Workforce Kick Sauber
Picture by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Sure, it could be odd for Sainz to decide on the group that’s at the moment backside of the standings. However then once more, no one would need to go to Honda on the finish of 2008, would they?
It’s exhausting to think about Audi beating the established leaders in 2026, however stranger issues have occurred in F1. I do not suppose it issues a lot to Sainz if he is preventing to get out of Q1 or, say, within the decrease positions of the highest 10 subsequent 12 months. He desires to be preventing for titles sooner or later. And a fully-fledged producer’s group is all the time a better option if you wish to hit the jackpot.
In any case, his long-term plan for the longer term might all the time be… Ferrari. In contrast to Fernando Alonso, he has by no means utterly burned the bridges with the groups he has raced for.
He nonetheless has unfinished enterprise with Renault, for those who bear in mind the statements made in 2018. He is nonetheless valued by McLaren. And he is now an awesome group participant at Ferrari, having given no trace in public that he is too displeased with the group’s choice. He is even “glad for Charles” that Leclerc received in Monaco.
So, if the Audi wager does not work out in three years’ time and Hamilton decides to name it a day, he’ll most likely have an opportunity to return again. However by then he won’t want it.
Ewan Gale: Williams remains to be the higher possibility
Whereas the draw of Audi is understandably a dangling carrot for a driver whose dad for therefore lengthy has been a key a part of the producer’s motorsport success, Williams has sufficient to show a greater possibility.
The truth is, the largest negatives related to the Grove-based outfit can simply be changed into positives by trying on the work being undertaken within the background since James Vowles arrived as group principal.
It will be an understatement to counsel the manufacturing facility and race group was behind the occasions when it got here to operations throughout the board, with Vowles regularly banging the drum concerning the carried-forward shortcomings – I imply, Excel spreadsheets… actually?
However what the previous Mercedes technique director has accomplished since becoming a member of has been to revolutionise all the group, a course of which is slow-moving however has eyes to the longer term and, not least, the 2026 guidelines reset.
James Vowles, Workforce Principal, Williams Racing
Picture by: Francois Tremblay
Outcomes for the reason that begin of 2023 have been promising, given the low expectations positioned on the Williams group forward of time. Alex Albon has been a shining star, while Logan Sargeant has confirmed the pace of the automobile isn’t just all the way down to his team-mate on uncommon event.
While a couple of points have proven this 12 months, not least having a scarcity of substitute chassis early on which pressured the group into working only one automobile on the Australian Grand Prix, these are a legacy of the behind-the-scenes development being undertaken and, if the group is ready to persistently cling across the fringes of the factors in its present type, then there can solely be positivity when seeking to the longer term.
To that time, a variety of hirings have been made by Williams in administration positions, not least veteran Pat Fry, to bolster the continued push up the grid.
The reset in 2026 will give the group an opportunity to start out on the entrance foot with its new challenger, moderately than what occurred two years in the past below the most recent regulation ruleset the place a poor automobile and pre-season struggles left it preventing to be aggressive.
However the energy unit scenario may be an enormous sway for Sainz. Whereas Audi shall be getting into with its personal works unit which, whereas itself does include benefits, is a totally new enterprise for the marque and will current itself with comparable points to that skilled by Honda final decade.
If that is the case, it could possibly be years till that energy unit is aggressive in F1 towards the established OEMs in Ferrari, Mercedes and Honda.
Alex Albon, Williams FW46
Picture by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Williams, alternatively, shall be in possession of Mercedes’ unit which, if paddock noise is to be heeded, is trying robust for the brand new laws.
Sure, it will likely be a buyer provide that Williams has to tackle in comparison with Audi, which is able to restrict sure design options while its rivals can create a automobile with a clean canvas, however that hasn’t stopped McLaren in current occasions – the Woking-based group far outperforming the manufacturing facility Mercedes effort prior to now 18 months.
One other essential issue that might sway Sainz is that Williams is trending upwards from a hunch and appears to be progressing by way of the sector, turning into extra aggressive month by month. Audi’s group, Sauber, is struggling to seek out any type because the C44 labours close to the again of the pack week in, week out.
Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu have successfully been hamstrung by the automobile’s efficiency on monitor, whereas pitstop points heralding from a winter replace to pit gear is hardly an attractive proposition for any driver, not to mention considered one of Sainz’s race-winning stature. Watching a automobile stationary in its field for half a minute race to race can’t be interesting.
It’s a must to really feel that momentum has to depend for lots when making his choice in order to not utterly waste a 12 months subsequent time period while ready for the 2026 laws. That will push Sainz in direction of Williams.
There was loads of flattery from Vowles in current weeks as Sainz mulls over his choice, one thing which the Spaniard has acknowledged. He and Albon could possibly be the kind of galvanising partnership that might propel a group like Williams into a daily podium-contending pressure within the years to return.
Possibly that’s extra of a draw than a works drive – one which could possibly be extra rewarding if success does come his method.