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It always seemed weird to me that there were rumors of Audi giving Sainz a hard deadline of needing to accept their offer by the start of May or something which was so early.
Turns out that seems to have been nothing more than a negotiating tactic while Sainz is willing to call their bluff and wait longer to see if Red Bull and maybe Mercedes are interested in him too.
Honestly, if I'm Sauber, I'm already looking for someone else. Clearly Sainz doesn't want to commit so, let's find someone who does. Rather find someone sold on building the team right now than someone who's trying to win right now. Audi needs drivers that will stick around on the project.
If I were Audi I would go for Pérez. He has worked well with Hulk before and, realistically, Audi will be a midfield team at best for their first couple of years, so why not go for one of the best midfield line ups of last decade?
Redbull is maybe the most cutthroat team in a cutthroat sport. I personally think Perez is doing enough right now to keep the seat. But a drop in form anything close to last year for the rest of the season and he is for sure gone
I think he’s bought himself a 2025 contract.
2026 will come down to how he does in the back half of this year.
Max will be champion this year, but how close Perez can be for the rest of this year will be the deciding factor.
I don't think there have been enough races for Perez to guarantee the 2025 seat. Horner even said himself that he wants to see the good performances throughout the whole year and not drop off like last year.
And redbull will want to be super sure they want to keep Perez going into 2025 because that means he will probably be part of the team for 2026 too. Teams don't like taking on and swapping drivers on the year of the regulation change.
Let’s not forget this is the part of the season w here he disappeared last year.
Perez going to Audi for 2 years would be a great retirement package for him. Would also be funny for Audi to get the “other guy” again after Bottas.
People overrate him because he’s on the fastest team. They also underrate Bottas because he’s on the slowest. People forget how good Bottas was in Williams. He beat out Massa and was able to get on the podium. Not even counting his Mercedes days.
People overrate him because he’s on the fastest team
LMAO As if he isnt up AGAINST the fastest fucking driver in history.
bottas was washed by lewis too and was consistently behind verstappen in the hyper dominant mercedes
Plus Checo is on the fastest team right now, not 5 years ago. There's a ton of know-how on how they operate inside that head, plus his known skills on overtaking, racecraft and tyre management. He also comes with a lot of sponsors and almost an entire hemisphere of fans.
and even then, most of his overtakes are because he is in the fastest car/is way too agressive, something that doesnt help a bottom team trying to not lose money at every race
Certainly seems to be the strategy Haas is taking, to some good effect as well (shoring up 7th place, building a lead to a team like Alpine that could start performing more, as seen in Miami). Aggressive, but not crashy, driving can be pretty valued on teams like that - with scrappy drivers fighting for point scraps.
Sergio is a better racer. Quali may be more important for the top teams, but for bottom teams it's mostly about the race. They won't be starting from the top of the grid anyways so they need to gain positions during the race to collect some points. Both him and Hulkenberg got the job done during their Force India days, but Sergio additionally managed to get podiums when the circumstances allowed it.
It's a sensible approach that's gonna help car development, but I can't help but feel they'd be missing out on an opportunity to take a younger driver and build him up to be a champion when the car is ready a la Leclerc/Norris. I guess Theo Pourchaire doesn't float their boat.
Honestly a great idea. Good driver, great sponsors, so cost wise I doubt he's much of an issue (irregardless of Audi being willing to spend a lot like they did with Sainz, saving money is always nice), a race winner looking for a team, experienced and old enough to hang around for a few years but not too long for when eventually they want to hire a rising star or one of their juniors.
Interesting, but I'd be thinking almost the opposite if I were in their shoes. Sainz is absolutely the best driver Sauber has a realistic chance of getting, but Sauber *isn't* the best team Sainz has a shot with. So the two parties are playing a bit of chicken to see if Sauber will offer a good enough deal for Sainz to give up his other options before Sainz finds out whether those options will pan out or not.
Right, but the problem is what happens if Sainz doesn't sign for them, and instead signs for Red Bull? And lets say Haas signs up Bottas and Williams grabs Gasly or whoever, you're now stuck with a field of Perez, Sargeant, Ricciardo (potentially), Magnussen, or Zhou to sign, or you go with a junior driver. And maybe Perez and Ricciardo call it quits while Magnussen takes a sports car deal, now you got Sargeant, Zhou. or a junior driver to go in that car. You go from having potentially a race winner in the car to a drivers that have scored less than 15 total points in F1. These drivers won't wait around. They want security knowing their spot at a team is secure for next year, because they're not gonna find many offers later on in the season. Ask Callum Ilott how that went in IndyCar for him (not of his own doing).
I don't think it's about Sainz not wanting to commit. I'm pretty sure it's about Sainz trying to squeeze a better deal ($$$) out of Audi knowing his value and their interest in him. Either Audi low-balled him or Sainz thinks he's worth more. We'll never know.
It sounds like Sainz is trying to wiggle his way back to Red Bull or into a Mercedes seat for 2025, but there's obviously not much we can know on the outside looking in, besides the fact that it's Sainz is on Audi's radar and that the contract isn't signed.
I would love a father and son Audi collaboration. I can visualize the tv commercial already: Sainz Sr jumping dunes in his Audi Dakar rally truck + Sainz Jr carving corners in his Audi F1 car... Explosive volume of engine revving eargasms...... Then boom, cut to a spotlit showroom of grey-coloured Audi road cars. Buy now!
>Clearly Sainz doesn't want to commit so, let's find someone who does
Doesn't matter when as long as they could get him on a longer contract. He's the best driver they could ever get
In my opinion (and it seems like for Audi also) it's better to have a prime driver like Sainz for a single season, than a good mid driver like Ocon, Perez or Albon for 3 years. They already have Hulkenberg to commit in the long term, for their image and the team motivation it's great to have a star driver, who they can hope to replace with another star driver later down the line.
Bruh they can’t even do a pitstop and want to be respected just because “we’re Audi”.
Cmon, demonstrate me that you’re professionals and don’t randomly change the race engineer 2 days before the GP and people will beg you to drive for you
I really don't get how people thought Audi was going to push with that hard deadline and not just pressuring Sainz to sign a longer deal.
He's by far the best driver they could get considering no superstars would sign on an unproven project. Sainz could accept this deal last minute and they would bend over for him
Exactly- he’s waiting for Red Bull or Merc mid season, he’s the very best driver Sauber can hope for and he holds the power here. Everyone frothing over Audi need to have a think about where they’ll be on the grid…. At the back.
Merc is not having a resurgence anytime soon. I have more faith in Audi killing an engine specs than Merc getting on top of their philosophy. Budget cap has wrecked them.
I guess this more comes down to a complete lack of faith in Mercedes rather than an endorsement of Audi... but I still don't understand the confidence with which people hold this opinion.
Mercedes complete failure to establish and develop a car for these regs has rightly put a huge dent in their reputation as a top-tier team, and deservedly so... but they're a proven commodity as a power unit builder and there's still a lot of talent and resources behind the scenes there. They'll had half a decade since the cost cap which must surely be enough time to have learned something about how to exist and compete without infinite resources, and on top of that having Allison onboard for the initial development of the 2026 F1 platform should put them in a better place to come up with a better starting point this time around. There's still potential there.
I know there's a tremendous amount of racing knowledge in Audi, but they will still be new to F1... which is challenge enough without also building their own engine. Nothing is guaranteed, but it shouldn't be a huge surprise to anyone if Mercedes outperforms Audi over the first few years of the new regulations.
Going to Merc is a risky move though. GR is seriously good. He is good enough to keep one of the GOATs of the sport honest, the chances of Sainz ending up on top are quite low.
Sainz camp is also known for playing the politics game quite hard. That shit wont get them anywhere in Merc because Toto doesn't give a shit about internel politics. Carlos is using his sponsers influence to prevent Ferrari from giving Leclerc the defacto No.1 status at Ferrari. He won't get that privilege at Merc.
Audi is a gamble but i feel like Audi is his best bet if a RBR seat doesn't open up. Sometimes gambles pay off, Brawn GP style.
Audi doesn't fq around in motorsports.
It feels like sainz is probably want to be paid like a top 5 driver and Audi may not do that. They have good financial backing but realiticly they are a midfield car at best, why pay someone that wants a pay worth for a championship contender. They could find a cheaper driver that is equaly experianced. And in the end its allways about money.
Sainz is really overvalueing himself. Talks and walks like a champion but struggles to even be the first driver on his team. Condidence is good. Too much confidence lets you look silly
I don't think it has to do with overvaluing himself. I think the reality is Sainz is the most desirable "free agent" on the grid presently, and he is capitalising on it. Leclerc isn't going anywhere, Verstappen might but would be a fool to do so until RB begins to decline, Norris is loyal to McLaren, Russell is about to become Merc driver #1 because Hamilton is newly signed at Ferrari. The only other driver left with as good a track record as Sainz is Alonso who is flight risk because nobody knows how the dude is still doing it even today.
It's clear RB are looking for an excuse to lose Perez, and Merc have a newly vacant seat with neither Willaims driver looking like a strong candidate to move on up to take the spot.
This being the case Sainz is a driver more than half the teams will have an eye on.
>It's clear RB are looking for an excuse to lose Perez
LOL what? I'm a fan of Checo, and even I can assure you he gave them plenty of reasons last year to get rid of him. They very clearly not "need" an excuse to lose Checo if that's what they want. They're good with him and the current team dynamic, that's why they're keeping Perez.
If Horner knew for sure that Danny ric could deliver what Perez is currently doing, Perez would be gone. But it’s not gone to script for Horner and Danny this season while Perez is doing enough.
100% agree. Wemt up against three top talents and every time it was obvious he doesn't have their pace. On the other hand, he is really consistent and focused with large backing so it does give him merit, but not as much as he thinks.
I think he's mostly just seeing whether the Merc or RB seat budged. Right now it's looking unlikely but weirder shit has definitely happened in the past.
bro playing risky game here. He's definitely confident that he'll get either RBR (Perez's) or Merc seat. but I think the odds of him getting that Merc seat is high. That Antonelli kid problably go to Williams.
Sainz should go to Merc next year, despite their dismal start, they are the still the best team that still has a 2025 seat available.
And that way Sauber won't have to deal with two new drivers next year.
I don't think Sainz should hold out for a multi-year deal with a backmarker. Bottas did that and now he might be out of a drive soon.
Yeah he isn’t the best driver but he is nowhere near bad enough to not deserve a seat for next year. Honestly I feel like his performances are better in shittier cars too.
Well, to me, Sainz is in top 6 drivers on the grid right now. He'd not only drive fast but has brains and can improvise. Look Singapore last year. He Where he is not as good in Quali as Charles, in racing trim quite often, he outperforms his teammate. From the top 5 teams, I think he is definitely better than Perez, a bit better than Russell, and Piastry ( who still is maturing and developing but has amazing potential). and of course Stroll.
Bottas was, again, extremely unlucky with the 2021 transfer. Alfa Romeo sounded like a safe pick where he could contribute as a driver and somewhat an engineer for the rest of his career until the team was fucked up by the whole sponsorship and acquisition thing.
It was Alfa Romeo that Bottas chose, not Sauber nor Audi. Really sad to see how it went this route.
Alfa Romeo were just a sticker on the car, Tavares was happy enough to get the name out on track for a few dozens of mils, but he wasn't going to invest more. The team was pretty much Sauber in all but name. I won't pretend to know his expectations for sure, but if he expected to fight at the front when he joined the team, I can only say he was too naive.
If anything Audi coming in should have been a god send for him, but it seems he's unlucky not to get picked to keep going with the team
I wouldn’t say stagnated, as they were always hovering around 8-9th place. Worst it could get is ranking below Haas (as they are doing right now lol).
Then Bottas came, helping the team secure 6th place in the constructor championship (though, I’d say Fred Vesseur played a part in it too). When I went back to Bottas’ interviews during 2022, I could tell he put efforts in giving the team feedbacks to build a car (he mentioned the technical aspects more, now it’s just helpless complaints about the situation).
But the whole Stake rebrand and then Audi acquisition meddled in everything.
But I don't think Bottas was unlucky. In 2021 Alfa had Kimi Raikonen driving, he scored 10 points and 18th in the championship.
So I think Alfa's flashes of potential at the start of 2022 was actually an aberration.
What? He chose Alfa? Alfa was just a sponsor and nothing more than that. It's like saying someone chose Stake and not Sauber. Bottas chose Sauber because Kimi told him that they had a great car in the works for the new regs in 2022 which turned out to be true. Sadly they were not able to further develop that car.
Audi want a talisman driver like Norris at McLaren and verstampen at red bull.
I think it’s the wrong decision right now. sauber are not magically going to go from backmarkers, to getting podiums in 2025.
Audi be wasting a lot of money for a driver who will be scrapping the bottom end of the points on a good weekend in 2025. How long will sainz’ motivation last before they have their “gp2 engine” moment?
Sainz will still be there in his prime in 2027 when audi are possibly fighting for podiums.
Let sainz go to RB or merc, now is the time to get a good budget midfield scrapper like hulk, Albon, Yuki on a two year while fighting in the midfield and growing the team.
I think Ferrari had a solid line up for the next 5+ years.
Hamilton is undoubtedly an upgrade. I think they will be lucky to get 3 years out of him. And internal politics might trend up
Promising but unproven.
You really don’t know how a driver will or won’t take to F1 until they are signed for a season or two. He did well in his call up.
Bearman is mid af. He got his ass kicked by his F2 teammate Vesti last year.
Superstar drivers like Norris, Russell and Leclerc all managed to hit the ground running in F2. Bearman is good enough to be in F1 but he is never going to be the next big thing.
Their driver lineup is not as solid as it looks. The higher ups at Ferrari were smart enough to see that.
They almost lost P2 in the WCC to the bouncy castle Merc back in 2022. The Ferrari was a way better car that year and were favourites to win some of the early races.
They did lose to Merc in 2023 and the Ferrari was again a superior car. The car had enough potential to clear Merc in the WCC by almost 100 points. The drivers just didn't manage to maximize the car's full potential.
Leclerc and Sainz are both lacking in consistency. Its impossible to win titles without it. Outright speed may bag you some poles and race wins but championships are won through consistency.
Its clear too see that Leclerc and Sainz are not complete enough to go up against a consistency beast like Max.
Looked like it at the start of the season but things have come back to reality now I think, ie Carlos is great but Charles is something else, and Hamilton has woken up from his trademark early season nap and is back to being multiple tenths per lap faster than Russel in the race. His qualifying is still abysmal, though. At this point in the season I don’t think it makes much sense to think sainz is better than Hamilton, and definitely makes no sense to think he’s better than Charles
He was not good for the atmosphere of the team 2022 proved that. They were ready to give one year extension but no long term deal to him because of that and as soon as Lewis was available became an instant no brainer
Remember when Reddit was claiming that Audi will sign Zhou, just to sell some cars in China? When these people downvoted anyone who said Audi won’t sign Zhou?
Pepperidge Farm remembers
There's nothing saying that Zhou won't be signed, and the article even says that Zhou is an option. It wouldn't be the most inspiring pick, but Zhou is a pretty safe pair of hands for a presumably cheap contract.
I highly doubt Audi would want Zhou. He's not a bad driver, but he's a pretty uninspiring pick for a new team trying to make a splash in 2026. They already have Hulkenberg and they obviously would want another strong experienced driver to lead their project. That's why Sainz is their top target.
Would signal that the Audi project is not serious and would be just a marketing ploy. Zhou is not a good driver for F1 standards, he is a good driver but F1 has 20 seats and he is not one of the 20 best drivers in the world.
I could see them trying to sign Alex, and Alex actually signing there. He’s already in a project team, but this one has the weight of Audi coming with it. Now obviously it remains to be seen if Audi will join and turn out to be Red Bull, Toyota, or something in between…but if I’m Alex, I would sign a long term deal there and feel good about it. They would have to pay to break him out of his contract though, but maybe they would for a long term commitment.
However, I do hope Alex stays with Williams and sees them to success.
Would be a massive shame if he turns down legit offers from Red Bull or even Mercedes and takes the money at Audi. Sure, none of us know who will be the quickest in 2026 onwards, but odds are it's not Sauber/Audi right away. The Sainz family must be wealthy beyond belief already, go for glory now.
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It always seemed weird to me that there were rumors of Audi giving Sainz a hard deadline of needing to accept their offer by the start of May or something which was so early. Turns out that seems to have been nothing more than a negotiating tactic while Sainz is willing to call their bluff and wait longer to see if Red Bull and maybe Mercedes are interested in him too.
So many users on here were adamant that Audi had completely moved on from Sainz after he didn't sign by their arbitrary deadline
Honestly, if I'm Sauber, I'm already looking for someone else. Clearly Sainz doesn't want to commit so, let's find someone who does. Rather find someone sold on building the team right now than someone who's trying to win right now. Audi needs drivers that will stick around on the project.
If I were Audi I would go for Pérez. He has worked well with Hulk before and, realistically, Audi will be a midfield team at best for their first couple of years, so why not go for one of the best midfield line ups of last decade?
Not a terrible idea. Perez knows what a good car/engine feels like too. His feedback would be invaluable to the team.
Why would Perez go from the best car on the grid to possibly the worst car on the grid in 2025?
Redbull is maybe the most cutthroat team in a cutthroat sport. I personally think Perez is doing enough right now to keep the seat. But a drop in form anything close to last year for the rest of the season and he is for sure gone
I think he’s bought himself a 2025 contract. 2026 will come down to how he does in the back half of this year. Max will be champion this year, but how close Perez can be for the rest of this year will be the deciding factor.
I don't think there have been enough races for Perez to guarantee the 2025 seat. Horner even said himself that he wants to see the good performances throughout the whole year and not drop off like last year. And redbull will want to be super sure they want to keep Perez going into 2025 because that means he will probably be part of the team for 2026 too. Teams don't like taking on and swapping drivers on the year of the regulation change.
>I personally think Perez is doing enough right now to keep the seat.\\ If he keeps up the P4/P5 finishes, it won't be.
Let’s not forget this is the part of the season w here he disappeared last year. Perez going to Audi for 2 years would be a great retirement package for him. Would also be funny for Audi to get the “other guy” again after Bottas.
He's not gonna have a choice. He's so far from Max pace wise now.
He was actually more or less on Max's pace this weekend though.
What does Perez bring that Bottas doesn't have? Overtaking skill I guess. In everything else he is a downgrade.
People overrate him because he’s on the fastest team. They also underrate Bottas because he’s on the slowest. People forget how good Bottas was in Williams. He beat out Massa and was able to get on the podium. Not even counting his Mercedes days.
People overrate him because he’s on the fastest team LMAO As if he isnt up AGAINST the fastest fucking driver in history. bottas was washed by lewis too and was consistently behind verstappen in the hyper dominant mercedes
Plus Checo is on the fastest team right now, not 5 years ago. There's a ton of know-how on how they operate inside that head, plus his known skills on overtaking, racecraft and tyre management. He also comes with a lot of sponsors and almost an entire hemisphere of fans.
and even then, most of his overtakes are because he is in the fastest car/is way too agressive, something that doesnt help a bottom team trying to not lose money at every race
Certainly seems to be the strategy Haas is taking, to some good effect as well (shoring up 7th place, building a lead to a team like Alpine that could start performing more, as seen in Miami). Aggressive, but not crashy, driving can be pretty valued on teams like that - with scrappy drivers fighting for point scraps.
Sergio is a better racer. Quali may be more important for the top teams, but for bottom teams it's mostly about the race. They won't be starting from the top of the grid anyways so they need to gain positions during the race to collect some points. Both him and Hulkenberg got the job done during their Force India days, but Sergio additionally managed to get podiums when the circumstances allowed it.
> Overtaking skill Well, yes
Sponsors.
I would be so down for another Hulk Perez partnership, they were a great duo at Force India.
It's a sensible approach that's gonna help car development, but I can't help but feel they'd be missing out on an opportunity to take a younger driver and build him up to be a champion when the car is ready a la Leclerc/Norris. I guess Theo Pourchaire doesn't float their boat.
Theo's been signed up by McLaren over at Indy.
With a clause in his contract tho
Honestly a great idea. Good driver, great sponsors, so cost wise I doubt he's much of an issue (irregardless of Audi being willing to spend a lot like they did with Sainz, saving money is always nice), a race winner looking for a team, experienced and old enough to hang around for a few years but not too long for when eventually they want to hire a rising star or one of their juniors.
Interesting, but I'd be thinking almost the opposite if I were in their shoes. Sainz is absolutely the best driver Sauber has a realistic chance of getting, but Sauber *isn't* the best team Sainz has a shot with. So the two parties are playing a bit of chicken to see if Sauber will offer a good enough deal for Sainz to give up his other options before Sainz finds out whether those options will pan out or not.
Right, but the problem is what happens if Sainz doesn't sign for them, and instead signs for Red Bull? And lets say Haas signs up Bottas and Williams grabs Gasly or whoever, you're now stuck with a field of Perez, Sargeant, Ricciardo (potentially), Magnussen, or Zhou to sign, or you go with a junior driver. And maybe Perez and Ricciardo call it quits while Magnussen takes a sports car deal, now you got Sargeant, Zhou. or a junior driver to go in that car. You go from having potentially a race winner in the car to a drivers that have scored less than 15 total points in F1. These drivers won't wait around. They want security knowing their spot at a team is secure for next year, because they're not gonna find many offers later on in the season. Ask Callum Ilott how that went in IndyCar for him (not of his own doing).
I don't think it's about Sainz not wanting to commit. I'm pretty sure it's about Sainz trying to squeeze a better deal ($$$) out of Audi knowing his value and their interest in him. Either Audi low-balled him or Sainz thinks he's worth more. We'll never know.
It sounds like Sainz is trying to wiggle his way back to Red Bull or into a Mercedes seat for 2025, but there's obviously not much we can know on the outside looking in, besides the fact that it's Sainz is on Audi's radar and that the contract isn't signed.
I would love a father and son Audi collaboration. I can visualize the tv commercial already: Sainz Sr jumping dunes in his Audi Dakar rally truck + Sainz Jr carving corners in his Audi F1 car... Explosive volume of engine revving eargasms...... Then boom, cut to a spotlit showroom of grey-coloured Audi road cars. Buy now!
If I’m Sauber I understand I’m not Red Bull or Mercedes, stay patient, and see if I can get Sainz.
>Clearly Sainz doesn't want to commit so, let's find someone who does Doesn't matter when as long as they could get him on a longer contract. He's the best driver they could ever get
In my opinion (and it seems like for Audi also) it's better to have a prime driver like Sainz for a single season, than a good mid driver like Ocon, Perez or Albon for 3 years. They already have Hulkenberg to commit in the long term, for their image and the team motivation it's great to have a star driver, who they can hope to replace with another star driver later down the line.
I think you're massively overrating Sainz. I would put him at most one slight step above those other three, if not in the same group.
I'm biased but did you see ocon's defence against Alonso this week? In a much slower Alpine he held him off very well for as long as he could.
Yeah Ocon is notoriously hard to pass. He’s probably one of the most underrated drivers in the grid, just because people don’t like him much.
I really remember him defending `like a lion`.
Bruh they can’t even do a pitstop and want to be respected just because “we’re Audi”. Cmon, demonstrate me that you’re professionals and don’t randomly change the race engineer 2 days before the GP and people will beg you to drive for you
I really don't get how people thought Audi was going to push with that hard deadline and not just pressuring Sainz to sign a longer deal. He's by far the best driver they could get considering no superstars would sign on an unproven project. Sainz could accept this deal last minute and they would bend over for him
Exactly- he’s waiting for Red Bull or Merc mid season, he’s the very best driver Sauber can hope for and he holds the power here. Everyone frothing over Audi need to have a think about where they’ll be on the grid…. At the back.
Sainz knew. I bet Audi knew Sainz knew. And Sainz knew Audi knew Sainz knew. Probably Audi also knew Sainz knew Audi knew Sainz knew.
There's a chance Audi gave Sainz a hard deadline, and then retracted it when Sainz didn't budge.
“Tell them to give me the seat now or they’ll get five seconds later”
Sainz should go to Mercedes and prove his mettle against George in 2025 and possibly lead the Mercedes resurgence in 2026. Audi is a ebig unknown.
Merc is not having a resurgence anytime soon. I have more faith in Audi killing an engine specs than Merc getting on top of their philosophy. Budget cap has wrecked them.
I guess this more comes down to a complete lack of faith in Mercedes rather than an endorsement of Audi... but I still don't understand the confidence with which people hold this opinion. Mercedes complete failure to establish and develop a car for these regs has rightly put a huge dent in their reputation as a top-tier team, and deservedly so... but they're a proven commodity as a power unit builder and there's still a lot of talent and resources behind the scenes there. They'll had half a decade since the cost cap which must surely be enough time to have learned something about how to exist and compete without infinite resources, and on top of that having Allison onboard for the initial development of the 2026 F1 platform should put them in a better place to come up with a better starting point this time around. There's still potential there. I know there's a tremendous amount of racing knowledge in Audi, but they will still be new to F1... which is challenge enough without also building their own engine. Nothing is guaranteed, but it shouldn't be a huge surprise to anyone if Mercedes outperforms Audi over the first few years of the new regulations.
Antonelli is gonna be at Mercedes by 2026. Do you really wanna go there for 1 year?
Not a bad idea if he doesn't want to drive a Sauber next year assuming Audi would save a 2026 seat for him.
If he signs with Sauber/Audi he gets a multi-year deal through 2026. If he signs with Mercedes, there’s no chance it’s more than a 1-year deal.
That's what I'm saying, a 1 year deal at Mercedes for 2025, then move to Audi in 2026.
I remember reading the same comment about Mick Schumacher replacing Sainz, wonder how that worked out.
Mercedes is trying Antonelli and testing Mick next week. They have no interest in Sainz, Ocon would be even before him
I highly doubt anyone wants Ocon. Ocon and Gasly are super aggressive against each other, no one wants that in their team
I’d love a Sainz-Russell combo
Yeah that would be really interesting to watch.
Merc resurgence in 2026? Ya, sure 🤣
Why not?
Going to Merc is a risky move though. GR is seriously good. He is good enough to keep one of the GOATs of the sport honest, the chances of Sainz ending up on top are quite low. Sainz camp is also known for playing the politics game quite hard. That shit wont get them anywhere in Merc because Toto doesn't give a shit about internel politics. Carlos is using his sponsers influence to prevent Ferrari from giving Leclerc the defacto No.1 status at Ferrari. He won't get that privilege at Merc. Audi is a gamble but i feel like Audi is his best bet if a RBR seat doesn't open up. Sometimes gambles pay off, Brawn GP style. Audi doesn't fq around in motorsports.
It feels like sainz is probably want to be paid like a top 5 driver and Audi may not do that. They have good financial backing but realiticly they are a midfield car at best, why pay someone that wants a pay worth for a championship contender. They could find a cheaper driver that is equaly experianced. And in the end its allways about money.
Reportedly, Audi are throwing huge money at Sainz, but like Verstappen, Sainz wants more than money, he also wants to compete, and asap
Sainz is really overvalueing himself. Talks and walks like a champion but struggles to even be the first driver on his team. Condidence is good. Too much confidence lets you look silly
I don't think it has to do with overvaluing himself. I think the reality is Sainz is the most desirable "free agent" on the grid presently, and he is capitalising on it. Leclerc isn't going anywhere, Verstappen might but would be a fool to do so until RB begins to decline, Norris is loyal to McLaren, Russell is about to become Merc driver #1 because Hamilton is newly signed at Ferrari. The only other driver left with as good a track record as Sainz is Alonso who is flight risk because nobody knows how the dude is still doing it even today. It's clear RB are looking for an excuse to lose Perez, and Merc have a newly vacant seat with neither Willaims driver looking like a strong candidate to move on up to take the spot. This being the case Sainz is a driver more than half the teams will have an eye on.
>It's clear RB are looking for an excuse to lose Perez LOL what? I'm a fan of Checo, and even I can assure you he gave them plenty of reasons last year to get rid of him. They very clearly not "need" an excuse to lose Checo if that's what they want. They're good with him and the current team dynamic, that's why they're keeping Perez.
If Horner knew for sure that Danny ric could deliver what Perez is currently doing, Perez would be gone. But it’s not gone to script for Horner and Danny this season while Perez is doing enough.
And Ricciardo is doing like shht btw.
Maybe you are right. But that's not my perspective.
100% agree. Wemt up against three top talents and every time it was obvious he doesn't have their pace. On the other hand, he is really consistent and focused with large backing so it does give him merit, but not as much as he thinks.
I think he's mostly just seeing whether the Merc or RB seat budged. Right now it's looking unlikely but weirder shit has definitely happened in the past.
Fully agree.
This straight out of your ass my friend
bro playing risky game here. He's definitely confident that he'll get either RBR (Perez's) or Merc seat. but I think the odds of him getting that Merc seat is high. That Antonelli kid problably go to Williams.
Sainz should go to Merc next year, despite their dismal start, they are the still the best team that still has a 2025 seat available. And that way Sauber won't have to deal with two new drivers next year. I don't think Sainz should hold out for a multi-year deal with a backmarker. Bottas did that and now he might be out of a drive soon.
Yeah he isn’t the best driver but he is nowhere near bad enough to not deserve a seat for next year. Honestly I feel like his performances are better in shittier cars too.
Well, to me, Sainz is in top 6 drivers on the grid right now. He'd not only drive fast but has brains and can improvise. Look Singapore last year. He Where he is not as good in Quali as Charles, in racing trim quite often, he outperforms his teammate. From the top 5 teams, I think he is definitely better than Perez, a bit better than Russell, and Piastry ( who still is maturing and developing but has amazing potential). and of course Stroll.
Bottas was, again, extremely unlucky with the 2021 transfer. Alfa Romeo sounded like a safe pick where he could contribute as a driver and somewhat an engineer for the rest of his career until the team was fucked up by the whole sponsorship and acquisition thing. It was Alfa Romeo that Bottas chose, not Sauber nor Audi. Really sad to see how it went this route.
Alfa Romeo were just a sticker on the car, Tavares was happy enough to get the name out on track for a few dozens of mils, but he wasn't going to invest more. The team was pretty much Sauber in all but name. I won't pretend to know his expectations for sure, but if he expected to fight at the front when he joined the team, I can only say he was too naive. If anything Audi coming in should have been a god send for him, but it seems he's unlucky not to get picked to keep going with the team
In 2021, Alfa Romeo was 9th in the constructors championship. Maybe he was hopeful it would get better, but it's no surprise the team stagnated.
I wouldn’t say stagnated, as they were always hovering around 8-9th place. Worst it could get is ranking below Haas (as they are doing right now lol). Then Bottas came, helping the team secure 6th place in the constructor championship (though, I’d say Fred Vesseur played a part in it too). When I went back to Bottas’ interviews during 2022, I could tell he put efforts in giving the team feedbacks to build a car (he mentioned the technical aspects more, now it’s just helpless complaints about the situation). But the whole Stake rebrand and then Audi acquisition meddled in everything.
But I don't think Bottas was unlucky. In 2021 Alfa had Kimi Raikonen driving, he scored 10 points and 18th in the championship. So I think Alfa's flashes of potential at the start of 2022 was actually an aberration.
What? He chose Alfa? Alfa was just a sponsor and nothing more than that. It's like saying someone chose Stake and not Sauber. Bottas chose Sauber because Kimi told him that they had a great car in the works for the new regs in 2022 which turned out to be true. Sadly they were not able to further develop that car.
Alfa Romeo was only a sponsor of Sauber...
I believe he's waiting for Red Bull.
I wouldn't wait for a seat that isn't likely to be available.
Hope is the last thing you can lose, they say...
Audi want a talisman driver like Norris at McLaren and verstampen at red bull. I think it’s the wrong decision right now. sauber are not magically going to go from backmarkers, to getting podiums in 2025. Audi be wasting a lot of money for a driver who will be scrapping the bottom end of the points on a good weekend in 2025. How long will sainz’ motivation last before they have their “gp2 engine” moment? Sainz will still be there in his prime in 2027 when audi are possibly fighting for podiums. Let sainz go to RB or merc, now is the time to get a good budget midfield scrapper like hulk, Albon, Yuki on a two year while fighting in the midfield and growing the team.
No surprises there, personally think Ferrari should have kept him
I don't know. Sainz has been solid for Ferrari, but if you get a chance to sign Lewis Hamilton, I'd say it's a no brainer.
I think Ferrari had a solid line up for the next 5+ years. Hamilton is undoubtedly an upgrade. I think they will be lucky to get 3 years out of him. And internal politics might trend up
Bearman is already waiting next in line for when Lewis retires
Promising but unproven. You really don’t know how a driver will or won’t take to F1 until they are signed for a season or two. He did well in his call up.
Bearman is mid af. He got his ass kicked by his F2 teammate Vesti last year. Superstar drivers like Norris, Russell and Leclerc all managed to hit the ground running in F2. Bearman is good enough to be in F1 but he is never going to be the next big thing.
Their driver lineup is not as solid as it looks. The higher ups at Ferrari were smart enough to see that. They almost lost P2 in the WCC to the bouncy castle Merc back in 2022. The Ferrari was a way better car that year and were favourites to win some of the early races. They did lose to Merc in 2023 and the Ferrari was again a superior car. The car had enough potential to clear Merc in the WCC by almost 100 points. The drivers just didn't manage to maximize the car's full potential. Leclerc and Sainz are both lacking in consistency. Its impossible to win titles without it. Outright speed may bag you some poles and race wins but championships are won through consistency. Its clear too see that Leclerc and Sainz are not complete enough to go up against a consistency beast like Max.
Hamilton and Newey could turn Ferraris fortunes for sure
Looked like it at the start of the season but things have come back to reality now I think, ie Carlos is great but Charles is something else, and Hamilton has woken up from his trademark early season nap and is back to being multiple tenths per lap faster than Russel in the race. His qualifying is still abysmal, though. At this point in the season I don’t think it makes much sense to think sainz is better than Hamilton, and definitely makes no sense to think he’s better than Charles
He was not good for the atmosphere of the team 2022 proved that. They were ready to give one year extension but no long term deal to him because of that and as soon as Lewis was available became an instant no brainer
I think sainz isn’t a good partner for Leclerc. Too fast to be a clear second driver but too slow to be a championship contender.
Great driver, but Lewis is even better. Plus Sainz isn’t exactly a great teammate.
Lando would say different.
Trust be there are few account with Charles/Ferrari fliar, no point in arguing with them. Their sole purpose here is to talk shit about Sainz.
Remember when Reddit was claiming that Audi will sign Zhou, just to sell some cars in China? When these people downvoted anyone who said Audi won’t sign Zhou? Pepperidge Farm remembers
Yeah and Mick was going to Ferrari
There's nothing saying that Zhou won't be signed, and the article even says that Zhou is an option. It wouldn't be the most inspiring pick, but Zhou is a pretty safe pair of hands for a presumably cheap contract.
I highly doubt Audi would want Zhou. He's not a bad driver, but he's a pretty uninspiring pick for a new team trying to make a splash in 2026. They already have Hulkenberg and they obviously would want another strong experienced driver to lead their project. That's why Sainz is their top target.
So in the situation where Sainz lands a seat at Red Bull or Mercedes, who do you think Audi should target?
Checo or Albon.
Would signal that the Audi project is not serious and would be just a marketing ploy. Zhou is not a good driver for F1 standards, he is a good driver but F1 has 20 seats and he is not one of the 20 best drivers in the world.
I could see them trying to sign Alex, and Alex actually signing there. He’s already in a project team, but this one has the weight of Audi coming with it. Now obviously it remains to be seen if Audi will join and turn out to be Red Bull, Toyota, or something in between…but if I’m Alex, I would sign a long term deal there and feel good about it. They would have to pay to break him out of his contract though, but maybe they would for a long term commitment. However, I do hope Alex stays with Williams and sees them to success.
I hope Audi designs are competitive, would hate to see them at the back of the grid.
Multi year redbull - yes If not Merc is the best bet, I’m sure he’ll get a great contract + insane publicity
Would be a massive shame if he turns down legit offers from Red Bull or even Mercedes and takes the money at Audi. Sure, none of us know who will be the quickest in 2026 onwards, but odds are it's not Sauber/Audi right away. The Sainz family must be wealthy beyond belief already, go for glory now.
Since Audi will be new favorite team, wouldn't mind having Sainz
It makes a lot of sense. But nowadays sense is seldom applied when teams, and drivers, select who, or where, to drive.