There may be action on the track at the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend, but that doesn’t mean the cogs of the driver market aren’t still turning behind the scenes.
Only seven open seats remain on the grid for 2025 after Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll committed their futures to Alpine and Aston Martin respectively before the Austrian Grand Prix.
READ MORE: Every confirmed driver for the 2025 Formula 1 season so far
With so few seats left to fill, one driver continues to dominate the conversation and that’s Ferrari star Carlos Sainz.
Before the Spanish Grand Prix, Sainz was described as the cork in the bottle by Kevin Magnussen who himself faces an uncertain future in the sport.
The trouble for Sainz is that he now has three offers on the table, with Williams, Sauber and most recently Alpine trying to tempt him to sign on the dotted line for 2025.
Speaking on the Channel 4 coverage of the race in Austria, Alex Jacques has had his say on the Spaniard’s situation.
He believes that the recent upturn in form for French works team Alpine now makes them favourites to sign Sainz.
All three teams will be running out of patience with the three-time race winner as they won’t want to miss out on their Plan B or even Plan C drivers while he delays his decision.
READ MORE: Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height
Alex Jacques suggests Alpine are now favourites to sign Carlos Sainz
Talking about the 29-year-old’s future, Jacques said: “Yeah, great timing because if you said at the start of the year, ‘Carlos [Sainz], do you fancy going to Alpine?’, he wouldn’t have even replied to your emails.
“Now, I think they’re favourites to get his signature.”
It’s been a very tough season for Alpine who started the season with a vastly overweight car and for the first few races they were glued to the back of the field.
Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly are both race winners in Formula 1 but were struggling to get the car out of Q1.
However, they’ve started to turn their season around and their form over the past few races might suddenly give them an advantage over Williams and Sauber in negotiations.
Not only that, but Alpine have a couple of jokers up their sleeve when entering talks with the Spaniard and his camp.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage
Alpine making promises to Carlos Sainz ahead of 2025 decision time
As Jacques suggests, at the start of the season it would have been impossible to imagine Sainz considering a move to Alpine such was the gap between them and the rest of the field.
The progress they’ve made is impressive and they come into the Austrian Grand Prix after back-to-back double-point finishes in Canada and Spain.
They’ve also made a key change behind the scenes and have brought Flavio Briatore back into the fold and the expert negotiator will be doing his best to hire Sainz now.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Alpine’s F1 executive adviser Flavio Briatore
Alpine have recently made an improved offer for Sainz that could convince him to join the team over Williams or Audi.
They’ve also recently promised him that they want to change their factory Renault engine for a rival power unit in 2026.
Whether Alpine will be able to fulfil that promise to Sainz before he has to sign on the dotted line is yet to be seen.
The Formula 1 paddock are watching Sainz’s movements closely and once he announces his decision for 2025, the remaining seats on the grid will likely be filled very quickly.
The post ‘Great timing’: Alex Jacques now shares which team he thinks are ‘favourites’ to sign Carlos Sainz for 2025 appeared first on F1 Oversteer.