Carlos Sainz vows to be “selfish” over F1 future as wait for decision goes on

Carlos Sainz has explained that he plans to ‘more selfish’ when deciding his F1 future as he continues to hold up the driver market.

Sainz is the major player in F1’s driver market as he waits to make a decision.

Williams, Sauber and Alpine are all reportedly interested in Sainz for 2025.

However, the Spaniard remains hopeful that an opening occurs at either Red Bull or Mercedes.

Sainz’s future will have a knock-on effect for the rest of the drivers looking to secure a drive for next year.

If Sainz opts for Alpine, that could leave Williams open for Valtteri Bottas, for example.

Speaking ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Crash.net are present in the paddock, Sainz acknowledged his impact on the driver market but explained why he needs to put his own career first.

“Yeah I am conscious of it, but at the same time I don’t think it’s going to change because it’s only the timing that I’m changing,” Sainz said. “I’m probably not changing the outcome of anyone as probably all teams by now have their priorities and their decision-making depending on each scenario.

“At the same time, this sport and this world has taught me to be a bit more on the selfish side and look out for myself, and take the decision that I need to take whenever I need to take it and whenever I have all of the options on the table and I’m ready to take the decision, and not rush things if I don’t need to.”

Sainz also shrugged off critics for being impatient with driver moves historically being finalised over the summer break.

“Yeah the teams have been very patient and I thank them for that,” he added. “But I’ve also had to be patient, it’s not like I’m the only one and here the only one deciding that, I also had to take my patient pill with other things and I’ve had to be patient.

“At the same time I thank everyone that is having to hang in there while I take the decision.

“What I don’t fully understand is why the market is happening so early this year? Why everyone is so much in a rush when I remember it used to be in the summer break, September, July, it used to be when all of those situations started to happen.”

Sainz gave a spiky response when asked whether he has “more options” for next year given the speculation around Sergio Perez’s future. 

He replied: “More options? Is there any new teams in Formula 1? No, I don’t think I have more options.”