‘I haven’t made my mind up yet’ says Sainz as he assesses 2025 seat options ahead of Monaco

Carlos Sainz has quashed any concerns that deciding to take his time over choosing his next destination for 2025 could lead to some potentially positive options slipping away, with the Spaniard keen to assess his choices “carefully”.

While several moves have played out across the driver market in recent weeks – including Fernando Alonso and Alex Albon opting to stay with their respective teams, while Nico Hulkenberg will make the switch to Sauber from Haas – all eyes are still on what Sainz will do as he searches for a new team next year.

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With the current Ferrari driver still yet to make his choice, it appears that others may be waiting to see what he decides before making their own calls. Despite this, Sainz is not feeling pressured to set himself any kind of deadline for planning his next steps.

“I think everyone depends on everyone [in the driver market] – Formula 1 is a circle,” the 29-year-old told the media ahead of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. “I haven’t made my mind up yet and I don’t know where I’m going to be racing next year. I also haven’t set any deadlines.

“But I can just tell you it’s such an important decision at this stage in my career that I want to have all the options [on] the table and take the right one and think about it carefully, because I’m about to turn 30 this year, and the next project is a project that I really want to make it work and see how it goes. So I’m going to give myself as much time as I need.”

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Sainz was then pushed on whether the fact that teams might be setting their own deadlines could result in him missing out on some projects, should he not make his decision in time.

“That’s why behind the scenes I know more than you guys! You have the rumours and everything,” the three-time race winner joked. “But don’t worry, I’m not going to let slip anything, and I’m just going to put all the options [on] the table and take the right decision.

“I can just tell you that, once I have made my mind up, everything will happen very quickly. It’s all about putting everything together that I feel like I need on my next new contract.”

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Several seats on the 2025 grid are yet to be decided, with Ferrari and McLaren being the only teams to have their complete line-ups confirmed for next season.