MPH: Will Sainz's search for F1 seat end in unlikely Red Bull reunion?

Carlos Sainz is a class act and a classy driver. Against arguably the fastest qualifier in the field, he’s averaged less than 0.2sec slower over three years, won poles and races in a Ferrari which has never been the outright fastest and several times given the team fruitful directions in getting around the limitations of the cars. He always finds a way to be competitive, regardless of how a car demands to be driven. Whenever he’s been able to compete with Charles Leclerc he’s been able to tread that balance without stepping over the line or compromising the team. Recall the ferocity of his defence against the other Ferrari at Monza last year? Further, there have been occasions when he’s been called off from pressuring the other car and he’s always kept any complaints behind the scenes. He’s not been quite as fast as Leclerc on average, but there’s no disgrace in that. As a rookie he qualified marginally faster than Max Verstappen over a season-and-a-bit and at McLaren he shaded Lando Norris over two years. This is a high-calibre performer who would add a lot of value to any team.

But Lewis Hamilton was available and how does Ferrari say no to that? “From my side, obviously no hard feelings with anyone,” said Sainz on the eve of his final season with the Scuderia. “I think this is how the sport works, and obviously I have a lot of respect for Lewis, the success he’s had… I would have done the same in his position. I think Ferrari’s a great team and at some point [it’s] a team you would like to be part of. So I fully understand that and on top there’s someone like Fred [Vasseur] that he knows and he has a good relationship with and trusts. So it’s a no-brainer now for him to go to Ferrari. And from my side, [I’m] just focusing on my future, on where am I going to go next, and in the meantime, keep doing the best I can for this team.”

Hamilton said he has, “A huge amount of respect for Carlos. So I don’t feel that there’s any animosity or anything like that. I think he’s done an amazing job. He’s come a long way, obviously, from when he started within the sport to the output that he has now and the way he approaches things. And he’s grown to be a real strong voice within the driver line-up that we have, that’s really contributing to decisions that we’re making within the sport. And he’s clearly done a great job within his team.”

What, then, is Sainz’s next move? There is a solid Audi offer on the table, it seems, from his old McLaren boss Andreas Seidl. But how long term a project might it be to transform the current low-key Sauber team into a big hitter? Approaching 30, Sainz ideally doesn’t want to be using up seasons rebuilding. Mercedes is looking to a teenager as its preferred replacement for Hamilton. McLaren is set for several years with its Norris/Oscar Piastri line-up. But there is another top drive potentially available at Red Bull. He pushed hard to be released from the organisation back in 2017, feeling he had outgrown the junior team and with no obvious vacancy in the senior team. But there could be next year, as Checo Perez’s current contract expires. There may be a reluctance on both sides for him to step back into that very Verstappen-centric family. But stranger things have happened.

“I don’t know where I’m going and I don’t know what will be my best option,” he says. “What I know is that I’m obviously going to maximise my last year in Ferrari. I really want to have a good last year in this incredible team and give my absolute best for everyone in Maranello. But regarding my future, I said that the situation changed quite a lot over winter. Now I’m going to need to take my time to decide where I go. We’re obviously going to speak to all the options available what the best mid to long-term project is for me and my career and the best project that gives me a possibility to be a world champion and in the end that’s my dream and the thing that I want to do as soon as possible.”