’Selfish’ Sainz still blocking 2025 driver market

For multiple active Formula 1 drivers, the wait for Carlos Sainz’s decision rolls on.

The current Sauber duo, Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou, seem to be excluded from consideration to join Nico Hulkenberg in the newly Audi-owned team’s future plans.

But that is just one team - alongside Williams, Alpine and even Mercedes - that is still negotiating with the Ferrari refugee Sainz.

"Maybe I’ll wait for Carlos, maybe I won’t," Bottas said in Hungary.

"If I’m honest, I was hoping things would be resolved before this weekend - but it didn’t happen. The situation can become really nerve-wracking if things drag on until the August break or even later," the Finn added.

Even Kevin Magnussen, who along with Haas has now announced that he won’t still be with the American team next year, is holding out hope that Sainz’s plans leave a cockpit available for him somewhere else.

His boss, Ayao Komatsu, has invited Magnussen to stay involved in a non-racing role in 2025 and beyond. "An advisory role or something like that," the Danish driver admitted.

"It depends on whether I’m racing here (in F1) or not, of course," he explained. "There’s only a couple of very experienced drivers left on the market so I think it’s still all very open.

"I’m just going to focus on the season and have a little bit of patience because Carlos needs to make his mind up. Who knows," Magnussen added, "maybe some other teams will get impatient and make a move anyway."

Sauber’s Zhou expressed frustration and even anger two weeks ago at Silverstone, insisting that Sainz is leaving his decision for 2025 and beyond unnecessarily late.

Sainz told Spanish journalists at the Hungaroring: "I’m not changing anyone’s end result. I’m just changing the timing.

"Probably all the teams have their priorities and their decisions depend on each scenario. At the same time, this sport and this world have taught me to be a little bit more on the selfish side - to take care of myself first and make the decision I need to make when I need to make it.

"I’m not going to rule something out if I don’t need to," the Spaniard added. "The teams have been very patient and I thank them for that. But I’ve had to be patient too," said Sainz. "It’s not like I’m the only one who decides."

As for Magnussen, he says Sainz has "good reason" to be hesitant, given that even Mercedes still has a seat open - while the outside possibility that Red Bull will lose Max Verstappen continues to exist.

"He is the big name available right now," said the 31-year-old Dane. "All the teams with available seats are trying to get him. I think eventually some of them will get impatient.

"But once the decision is made, the rest of the market will land pretty quickly, I would think," added Magnussen.