Damon Hill has shared a 13-word reply to what Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has said about Ferrari exile Carlos Sainz and a possible move to Audi in 2025.
The 29-year-old is still striving to secure a seat on the grid for next season after the Scuderia chopped the Spaniard. Ferrari decided against giving Sainz a new contract beyond this term in favour of signing Mercedes hero Lewis Hamilton on a multi-year contract from next year.
Ferrari announced that Sainz will leave Maranello at the end of the 2024 season before the campaign even started. But he has since won the 2024 Australian GP, and remains the sole non-Red Bull racer to win a Grand Prix since George Russell topped the 2022 Sao Paulo GP.
Helmut Marko claims Red Bull cannot beat Audi’s offer to sign Carlos Sainz
A move to Sauber in 2025 is an option Sainz is exploring with the Swiss squad becoming the works Audi entry in 2026. Reports by Bild note that Sainz is even Audi’s ‘hottest’ target for a seat at Sauber. Additionally, Audi CEO Andreas Seidl views Sainz as his preferred candidate.
Sainz may have some alternative options on the grid, though, as Edd Straw of The Race says Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is considering Sainz. The Milton Keynes team might have an opening for next season with Sergio Perez out of contract beyond the 2024 season.
READ MORE: Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height
But while Red Bull motorsport advisor Marko has also confirmed that the team are speaking with Sainz about partnering Max Verstappen, he concedes they cannot match the offer that Audi has already made the Ferrari exile. Audi is keen to tie up Sauber’s 2025 line-up quickly.
“We’re talking to him,” Marko has told Kleine Zeitung. “He’s having his strongest season in Formula 1. But he has a very lucrative offer from Audi that we can’t match or beat.
“But we still know him from the Toro Rosso days, even back then he drove with Max. But it really hurt him back then when we at Red Bull relied on Verstappen and not on him.”
Damon Hill tells Carlos Sainz ‘money is nothing’ if he can win with Red Bull
Marko suggesting that Red Bull cannot rival the offer Audi has made Sainz has now drawn a response from Hill. The 1996 Formula 1 drivers’ champion with Williams believes Sainz must consider rejecting a more lucrative move to race with Sauber in 2025 if he can join Red Bull.
“Money is nothing next to winning,” Hill wrote in an Instagram Stories post. “You [have] got to get a winning car.”
READ MORE: Red Bull driver Sergio Perez’s life outside F1 from net worth to nickname
While Marko claims Red Bull cannot afford to better the deal Audi has proposed to Sainz for a seat at Sauber, the Ferrari exile taking over the contract Perez has in Milton Keynes would see him net a pay rise. Perez earns a yearly base wage of $10m (£8m) to Sainz’s $8m (£6m).
Perez and Sainz can also secure a further $6m (£5m) each year through bonuses at Red Bull and Ferrari respectively. So, as Hill claims, Sainz can consider taking a lesser wage to replace Perez if Red Bull can put him in a title-contending car over a Sauber to join the Audi project.
The post ‘Got to’: Hill issues 13-word reply to what Red Bull chief has said about Sainz and Audi appeared first on F1 Oversteer.