Carlos Sainz has delayed a decision on his future for as long as he possibly can but soon he will have to choose his next Formula 1 team.
It would have come as a bit of a surprise to the Spaniard when he discovered he wouldn’t be staying at Ferrari beyond the end of the season and the way that the driver market has shaken out leaves him without an offer from a top team.
Speaking on the Autosport Podcast, journalist Alex Kalinauckas has shared his thoughts on the most recent offer reportedly made to Carlos Sainz.
Williams have looked like the frontrunners to sign Sainz in recent weeks with team principal James Vowles desperate to bring the three-time race winner in alongside Alex Albon.
Sauber will become Audi in 2026 and as a result, they want the strongest line-up possible for their Formula 1 debut, so would like Sainz to join Nico Hulkenberg next year.
However, the return of Flavio Briatore to the Renault group to work for Alpine has coincided with a late bid to hire Sainz.
Kalinauckas has outlined the options to Sainz and shared why he would ‘really worry’ if he were Sainz in this situation if he ended up joining Alpine.
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Carlos Sainz warned about potential 2025 Alpine move
Talking about Alpine, Kalinauckas said: “Becoming a customer squad, say it signs with the best engine and say theoretically that’s Mercedes because that’s what happened in 2014, that plus a car that can score more points than Williams, suddenly looks very, very attractive to Carlos Sainz.
“The worry is Alpine itself has no track record of success either in the last 20 years since it won the titles with Renault.
“And there’s been this revolving cast of management changes, so it’s not exactly the stable base he’ll be looking for and nor is it the big, successful Formula 1 team that he’s enjoying right now at Ferrari.
“And the other more worrying thing is yes [Flavio] Briatore can say, ‘Look, we just scored more points than Williams in Spain’, Alpine doesn’t seem to know why and that would really worry me if I was Carlos Sainz.”
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Alpine not in the strongest position to sign Carlos Sainz in 2025
While Carlos Sainz will be deliberating over every contract sitting in front of him, it would be a surprise to see him head to Alpine next year.
They are one of the few works teams on the grid although there are doubts over the future of their power unit program.
Not only that, but David Croft has relayed that people in the paddock are suggesting that Renault may not have done the best job developing their 2026 engine.
In contrast, Williams driver Alex Albon has renewed his contract with the team for the next set of regulations and admitted that the Mercedes power unit they have access to was one of the reasons why he put pen to paper.
Alpine have failed to impress in recent years and despite the double-point finishes in Canada and Spain, don’t look like a team set up to bridge the gap to the top four manufacturers.
Williams appear to be a safer bet while Audi is the ultimate gamble as they could hit the ground running in the sport or continue the awful momentum the pointless Sauber team currently possess.
The post 'No track record': Journalist shares what would ‘really worry’ him about Carlos Sainz joining Alpine in 2025 appeared first on F1 Oversteer.