CARLOS SAINZ U-TURNS ON DECISION OVER NEXT F1 TEAM AFTER "DIGGING INTO" THEM

Carlos Sainz announced he has delayed his decision over his next Formula 1 team - a week after declaring an announcement was imminent.

Last Thursday, ahead of his home race in Spain, the Ferrari driver said he "doesn't want to wait any longer" to decide his future. Fast-forward just seven days, and he seems further away from making a choice.

Ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, he told reporters: "No, it's obviously not the right time. Probably a triple header isn't the right time to go back home and take the decision with my team and put all the options on the table and think carefully what is best for me, for my future, for my career. So obviously no, it's not now the right time."

His indecision will, at least in part, have been caused by the emergence of a surprise contender for his signature. For weeks, it looked like a 50/50 choice between either Williams or the new Audi F1 project, but now Alpine have made a play.

Sainz knows the Renault organisation well having spent two years driving for them in 2017 and 2018. The Alpine team announced on Thursday that Pierre Gasly has signed a new deal to stay in 2025 and they want Sainz to partner the Frenchman into the future.

The 29-year-old has thought long and hard about what to do next, ever since he was told that he was losing his Ferrari seat to Lewis Hamilton. And, through that process, Sainz hinted he has seen some things at the teams he has considered joining that have him worried.

He explained: "The situation that I've been in this year has made me learn a lot about Formula 1, in general. By talking to teams, it has kind of showed me how tough this sport is, how little sometimes you have to believe what people say at the beginning of negotiations, conversations.

"And mainly also to trust very little people in the paddock, because it's really a very political sport. There's a lot of things like this involved, and it's made me understand that it's a very tough sport in that sense, and understand the better picture of Formula 1, without going too much into detail.

"For other teams, obviously, I've learned a lot in which position they are in. And the teams that I'm potentially moving to next year, I've obviously dug in a lot into the state that they are in, and the situation that there is. It's also [given] me probably a better understanding of Formula 1 and where each team is."

Sainz is the key domino to fall in the driver market and several drivers have openly said their futures are likely to remain undecided until the Spaniard has put pen to paper with his next team.

2024-06-27T15:34:44Z dg43tfdfdgfd