Carlos Sainz slams Williams speculation after imminent announcement claim

Carlos Sainz said it “makes me laugh”, and not in a good way, following a report claiming that he had signed an F1 2025 contract.

Sainz has known before the F1 2024 campaign even got underway that he requires a new home on the grid for next year, following the pre-season announcement that seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton will take his seat for F1 2025.

Carlos Sainz has ‘very good options’ to pick from

Several doors have closed recently for Sainz, PlanetF1.com having previously reported that he is out of the running for the Mercedes vacancy for the time being, while Red Bull has chosen to retain Sergio Perez under a multi-year contract.

However, a report on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix claimed that Sainz had now signed a contract for F1 2025, adding “everything suggests” he is heading for Williams, though Sainz confirmed in Montreal that nothing has been signed.

In fact, that report made Sainz “laugh”, as he expressed his “concern” that such claims can go “unpunished”.

“The only thing I can tell you is there is nothing locked in,” he told reporters ahead of the Canadian GP.

“I’ve seen reports in the media, people saying I’ve signed. You look at those things, it makes me laugh, because I remember seeing reports three months ago that I had signed for Mercedes, reports that I had signed for Red Bull. Now obviously those places are not going to happen.

“So it’s just funny now people saying I’ve signed for Williams. It makes me laugh knowing that sometimes this goes a bit unpunished in a way for some media reports. I can just tell you that obviously concerns me that people can get away with that kind of stuff without being backed or anything like that.

“Apart from that, whenever I have something to say or something to announce, you guys will be the first ones to know and I’ll be here openly talking about it.

“And about my future, I’ll put everything into perspective, I will seriously consider everything inside that contract that I sign.

“I’m still a firm believer that in Formula 1 to be successful, you need a medium to long-term project. I don’t think you’re ever going to be successful in Formula 1 to go one year somewhere to win, and then leave. I think you need a proper project for those things to happen.

“And I think ’25, ’26, ’27, ’28, offers me a good opportunity to find that. I think ’26 is going to be a lottery. I think you guys have seen the regs today. When I had a look, it looks impossible for me to predict who’s going to be competitive.

“I know right now you guys see it maybe with a bit of a dramatic perspective, not being in a competitive car for ’25 or ’26, but I think ’26 is going to be such a turnaround that maybe the future holds something really positive out there for me.”

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Speaking to Sky F1, Sainz confirmed that he has some “very good options” on the table, but with Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc winning last time out in Monaco – Ferrari and McLaren seemingly having closed the gap on Red Bull – Sainz said these opportunities make it hard for him to give thought to next season.

But, he knows the time where he must decide his next move is approaching.

“I think I never lied about the fact that there’s many options available to me right now for the future and there’s some very good options out there and it’s something that I want to think about calmly,” he said.

“Being very honest with you, having a chance to win here this weekend and then my home grand prix in Barcelona, having a chance to win in Monaco, it’s very difficult to focus and make a decision on your future when you’re so focusing on trying to maximise the year and having a competitive car this year.

“So yeah, at some point, I’m going to need to sit down and see all the options on the table. Up until now, I’ve left it to my management and my team to negotiate and put together all the options in front of me and once it’s time to take a decision, then I’ll have to sit down and take it.”

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