McLaren boss Andrea Stella is keen to see a rival Formula 1 team sign an ‘interesting’ driver for the 2025 season after outlining why he deserves a seat on next year’s grid.
The field is beginning to take shape for next year with 11 of the 20 drives already confirmed. But McLaren are one of only three teams alongside Red Bull and Ferrari to have signed stars for both seats. Lando Norris is under contract to 2028 and Oscar Piastri has a deal for 2026.
Norris put pen to paper in January to stay at McLaren through at least the 2028 season after Piastri extended his stay last September. Now, Stella hopes a rival Formula 1 team has a spot in their garage for a driver he believes can help achieve something special in the right place.
Andrea Stella hopes Ferrari exile Carlos Sainz gets a 2025 F1 seat
Stella has sung the praises for what Carlos Sainz can offer a Formula 1 team with the Ferrari exile still on the market. The Scuderia announced in February that the 29-year-old will leave Maranello at the end of this year when his contract lapses after they signed Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari ditched talks with Sainz about a new deal to hand Hamilton a multi-year contract for his arrival from Mercedes. Now, the Spaniard will likely have to drop back to a midfield team to stay on the grid. Gazzetta dello Sport claims Sainz’s only options are Williams and Sauber.
READ MORE: F1 2025 driver line-up with every team’s confirmed entry for the grid
Sainz is hesitant to accept a multi-year offer from Audi that would see him race with Sauber in 2025 as he still harbours concerns over the German brand’s engine for 2026. Williams are also in the mix to sign Sainz and McLaren team principal Stella believes he has a lot to offer.
“Sainz is certainly an interesting driver,” Stella outlined, via quotes by Formule1. “His most important skill is his rationality. He thinks in advance [about] how he can drive the fastest lap time and how he can best race. He combines that with great instincts.”
Stella added: “He always knows how to communicate his findings well. You can really do something with that as a team. I think those qualities have been very important for us.”
Carlos Sainz secured two podiums with Andrea Stella at McLaren
Stella hopes Sainz signs with a Formula 1 team soon after working with the Madrid native at McLaren. He drove for the Woking natives next to Norris in 2019 and 2020 before moving to Ferrari. The 29-year-old also took P3 in the 2019 Brazilian GP and P2 in the 2020 Italian GP.
Racing in red has since seen Sainz reach 22 career podiums including P3s in the Bahrain GP, the Japanese GP and the Monaco GP this year. Sainz has also now won three races following his victory at the Australian GP – adding to the 2022 British GP plus the 2023 Singapore GP.
Podiums were never in reach for Sainz during his days for Toro Rosso from 2015 to 2017 and Renault from 2017 to 2018. Now, a move to Audi via Sauber in 2025 would move Sainz away from the front again with Zhou Guanyu’s best finish this season P11 and Valtteri Bottas’ P13.
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