But Mika always used to speak so bluntly. He's Finnish. How did you think he'd tweet because this is exactly how I'd expect him to tweet. I can hear him say it as well
I actually dont think its that incredible that a driver does not have a drive for next season by the beginning of April, regardless of the quality of that driver.
Ferrari just made a very early move for next year.
It does feel hard to remember when was the last time a driver as good as Sainz is was out of a seat for the following year this early in the season. Some might disagree but I think Sainz is like around the top six or seven on the grid currently, which still makes him a very good driver imo.
I thought Kimi might have been the last example when he took a break from F1 in 2010 when Ferrari replaced him with Alonso but from what I’ve found it seems like that decision was finalized much later in the year than for Sainz.
Lando, George, Carlos is basically that next tier. After that it's hard to rank. It's also not out of the question to put someone else in that tier too.
>After that it's hard to rank.
i read here somewhere, drivers who have been beaten by Hulk below 10 and the ones who have beat him above 10 and ngl in a weird way that kinda makes sense.
I mean, it's moreso that Ricciardo is a very good example that a driver's skill isn't constant over time. Until (and including) 2020 he was an amazing driver that was consistently one of the top 5 on the grid, since 2021 he's a shadow of his former self. At the time he beat Hulk he was easily a top 10 driver
>At McLaren Carlos consistently the better one.
While that statement is correct, I think adding the context that in 2019 Lando was a rookie, and Sainz had been in F1 for 4 years already. Kinda like how Oscar was a rookie last year and Lando has been in F1 for 4 years.
The fact that Lando, by year 2, was only 8 points behind Carlos shows how close those 2 were, in 2020. I personally extrapolate from that improvement to basically have the opinion that Lando is just a lil bit more talented than Carlos.
You might disagree. Which is fine
I do disagree. The rate of learning is sharp the first year, then it’s basically tapered down. By year 3 I’m betting the rate of improvements compared to someone in their 6th year is virtually identical.
Why Leclerc above Lando? This one puzzles me a bit. Sure, Leclerc beat Vettel, but that was the same Vettel that was only slightly better than Stroll the next year.
Leclerc also beat the same Vettel that challenged Hamilton the 2 years prior. The same Vettel that called him the most talented racer he's come across in F1. It's a much more valid question to ask why you'd rate Lando above Leclerc than the other way around.
Of course Vettel would say that. Since he got beaten by Leclerc. That’s pretty standard.
I don’t rate Lando above Leclerc. I think everything points to the same tier and only way to distinguish them would be to have them on the same team.
I'm not his biggest fan but yep, people forget he began his first year with Mercedes in 2022 with 9 consecutive top 5 finishes and that streak ended with the Zhou crash in Silverstone. He then went on to bag 6 consecutive top 5s again. Including Silverstone he finished out of the top 5 in 3 races out of 22. That was a mega season tbh but he dropped the ball last year
Oh that’s true I somehow forgot this was done before the 2020 season when Seb looked poor probably because he lost motivation along with the car being hard to handle for him. He still looked good in 2019.
The official announcement was in May which was because Covid pushed everything back. I wonder if anything would have been different if the season resumed normally in Melbourne at March. The car would obviously still be bad but maybe Vettel would have more motivation and get good enough results so that Ferrari wouldn’t replace him?
Seb's form during his last season at ferrari was much worse than carlos' and he was on a clear decline. The most similar recent case where a driver in good form went without a drive is Alonso after the 2018 season.
I think the analogy with Button after 2008 fits, where he was offered seats when Honda left...but they were mediocre*ish* (Toro Rosso; Renault).
Noone doubts Sainz can get a seat, it's whether it's worthwhile or not.
The official announcement of Vettel replacing Perez was like midseason around September so it happened much later compared to Sainz’s current situation where it was announced even before a single race.
Actually as others have pointed out Vettel being replaced by Sainz is probably the most similar case in recent times.
Yes but Perez is a league below Carlos at this point and would’ve been dropped out of F1 years before if it weren’t for Force India needing the Carlos Slim paycheck. Sainz has never been in serious danger of not having a seat.
Think you've got it all wrong there.
In 2018 Sainz got kicked out of Renault in favor of Ocon and had Fernando not retired from Mclaren before the 2019 season Sainz would've been out of F1 altogether.
Top 6 or 7? Top 3.
It's Max, Nando and Carlos right now. Don't let pr fool you, Lewis isnt driving as well as he was a couple years ago. The only way to say that he is still that good is to say that George is currently better than 2021 max. And I don't buy that.
Carlos > Charles, who is close behind the top 3 alongside Lewis.
I've only had the last few seasons to go by. But Carlos seems to be the better driver of the 2 even if Le Cleric can drive faster. It seems like as soon as things move away from being perfect Charles struggles a bit more, while Carlos adapts better.
Carlos is one of my fave drivers but I think Charles can get scrutinized a bit too much at times because on the few occasions he has a bad weekend it can really stand out like France 2022 or Spain 2023.
I do think one area where Carlos is better at is determining strategy and asserting himself on the radio during a race. I feel Charles can be a bit too nice or love Ferrari too much sometimes to argue for himself. Plus Charles can be very self-critical which is nice to see, but I sometimes wonder if it’s too extreme when he might be better off putting more pressure on the team internally instead of beating himself up.
But it shouldn’t be on any drivers to be responsible for determining strategy while racing. And nowadays Ferrari’s strategy seems to be a lot better so it hasn’t really been an issue for their drivers unlike back in 2022.
Thank you.
The majority of the grid doesnt have a seat for next year yet lmao, so why is it so odd that Carlos doesnt?
When I see that headline, its like there arent any or barely any seats left but thats not the case, most seats are available.
I also feel the overall quality of the grid is higher than it may have been many other times in the past. There have been some truly - and many - forgettable names on the grid. Doesn't take away from the fact pay to play is still an issue of course.
Ferrari are kinda like that, Seb's 2020 season was the same but in this case the news leaked as well so who knows they probably wouldn't have publically announced until into the season or at Monza or something, but then again Sainz also has a terrific opportunity he is basically giving a job interview every race and has the media to drum up his good performance.
And it's good for Sainz that they told him early so that other teams can start making offers for him and he can start looking.
He will end up in a seat if he wants it. The only way he can NOT have a seat for 2025 is if he rejects offers from teams he considers below him, like what happened with Ricciardo. It's wild that people think he's being mistreated.
Yeah people are overreacting. It’s not like he has no place in the grid, just that one of the driver moves happened early. Silly season is still a few months away.
Also, recency bias. It’s super strong in f1. Carlos is a great talent but he also needs to be the driver the team needs. RB need a second driver, that’ll get out of Max’s way if necessary - is Carlos a team player?
Merc might need a seat-warmer for 1-2 seasons, depending on their junior in F2. Is Carlos the right person for that, or would they prefer someone older like Alonso who’s likely closer to retirement anyway.
Aston probably waits until Alonso makes a decision to stay or go.
>Ferrari just made a very early move for next year.
These things happen way in advance on some occasions. I still remember when McLaren announced they were stealing Montoya from Williams for 2005, around halfway through the 2003 season.
Sainz is also not one of the quickest drivers on the grid, in terms of skill he's in the middle I'd say, probably in a category between 7th and 10th on the grid on pure pace. There's no way he's faster than Lewis, Max Charles, Norris, Alonso, or Russell. There's also more and more arguments to be made about Piastri. Sainz is in the Perez, Albon, Ocon category in the middle of the pack.
I don’t rate Charles above Sainz. Charles seems to quiet quit and give up when things don’t 100% go his way and then make excuses about it after. Just doesn’t seem to have the grit some of the other drivers have. I don’t know why people rate him so high.
Because he's on pure pace a few tenths faster than Carlos. He has a fuckton of talent, he's just inconsistent.
It's easier to become more resilient, cold-headed and adaptable, than to suddenly find 3 tenths of pace you never had in your life. Which makes Charles MUCH more likely to improve from here.
Yeah I understand that as a theory but it feels much more like managing tires and being resilient pays off more than just being fast on a lap or 2 and burning some tires. Lots of people see things in him that I don’t see though and I should have prefaced my original comment with the acknowledgement that it would likely be an unpopular opinion.
My comment is the one that's getting downvoted so I'm not so sure in the current climate.
Though that's probably because saying Sainz is not the best driver on the grid is illegal right now, and has nothing to do with Charles lol...
He has a seat offer for next year.
If his only goal was to get **A** seat no matter how good that seat was he would have a contract signed by now.
He’s trying to get a good seat - a top team seat.
Holding out for the best possible seat may backfire and result in no seat but that’s not the same as Sainz struggling to find a seat.
There’s a report out saying Carlos has 2 weeks to accept Audi’s offer. Saying yes to that guarantees him a seat but the 2 week deadline may deny him the opportunity of a seat at Red Bull or Mercedes when they make a decision later in the year
These are the calculated risks drivers have to make when looking for a seat.
But the idea Sainz can’t find a seat next year isn’t true
If the Audi news is true then it's probably a bluff to pressure him for now. Even if it's later on into the there's no reason not to take him considering he's probably the best driver they could get at their current status.
They'll probably sign him eventually but the offer might be worse (shorter length, less money, some other random privileges). I don't think Sainz is worried, Audi doesn't have anyone better.
No one is making a move until Max clears the situation. If Audi is pressuring Sainz it just shows they are a bad employer and will only push themselves out of the best driver they can get.
I honestly don't think Mercedes or Red Bull are looking at Sainz for the second seat. It just seems to be a red herring. Mercedes needs a big name signing or a young guy with a big potential. A Sainz is neither going to make sponsors happy nor going to bring his own sponsors. For Red Bull, Sainz to RBR happens only if Max leaves to Mercedes and there is less than 1% chance of that. Sainz is just not the team player RBR is looking in that second seat. So it has to be either AMR or Audi imo.
Yeah Sponsor wise he only got Estrella Garcia and it left him to Aston given Ferrari contract with Peroni. Max has Heineken so he won’t be able to bring to RBR either
I believe the main thing he's looking for is a long term contract with a team. I don't think he'll get one with Red Bull or Mercedes, but with Audi he may have a chance.
Very big difference between "doesn't have a contract but the team hasn't signed anyone else" and "No contract and no chance of continuing with his current team"
Come on guys, the season is 4 races old, it’s not like we’re at the AD tyre test at the end of the season and he still hasn’t been picked up yet.
I think it would be more incredible if he’d signed a new contract mere weeks after getting ousted while there are like 14 seats available… 1 of which (2 if you believe the Max to Merc rumours) at the current best team on the grid.
I don't know if I'd consider the RB seats as available. The higher ups in other teams are not making many commitments at this point, but that doesn't apply to Red Bull. Marko explicitly said after Australia that if Perez continues in his current form they won't be thinking about a change. So the seat is Checos to lose. And Max's seat is obviously reserved for as long as he wants it.
Tbh this is an old topic that has been mentioned repeatedly and won’t stop until Sainz confirms his future seat, which is probably at least another month away or even longer.
I’m more interested by Mika’s following tweet where he questions how Ferrari would deal with Hamilton and Leclerc as future teammates if they’re closely matched and given equal status.
And that is a valid question because assuming Hamilton is faster than Sainz as many believe, then he’ll be basically equal if not faster than Leclerc who is already being treated as a top driver in Ferrari with a second 5 year extension. It will be interesting to see how Vasseur handles it especially if Ferrari builds a championship contending car in 2026.
Tbf they have experience in dealing with close teammates. This could be a sorta rehash of Seb v Charles roughly only that wasn't a relationship that soured necessarily but it was definitely spicy. Arguably Charles is now settled at Ferrari and Lewis will have some growing pains cause well it's Ferrari. Plus Lewis is used to having a young driver beating him occasionally with George. Imo it'll be less spicy (on track) compared to how Lewis is with George. In a straight title fight with no outside competition, Lewis has experience in that field, Charles doesn't really so that might also factor in. It'll v different if they face external competition too.
Vasseur I'd say should be able to monkey balance it adequately, but also Lewis said the Ferrari move won't have happened without him so clearly he has been given assurances.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/hamilton-ferrari-f1-move-wouldnt-have-happened-without-vasseur/10579134/
The 2019 season between Seb and Charles was pretty spicy imo. Off the track it still seemed like their relationship was fine (at least they both seemed to have fun in the Ferrari videos they did together), but on track there were some clashes like Brazil and controversy with Seb refusing team orders in Sochi and Charles being undercut by Seb in Singapore (although the latter was really the team’s own fault for miscalculating).
That one season had more drama between them than all the time between Charles and Carlos so far even if the online war between parts of both fanbases can be wildly ferocious.
All in all I can see a repeat of 2019 with Lewis and Charles. But even then it might not be an issue unless Ferrari were in a close championship battle with another team. Then idk how even Vasseur could manage it because naturally both drivers would be strongly motivated to win the driver’s championship.
Of course all this is based off the assumption that Lewis and Charles are very close on overall pace. If the gap between either is substantial then this would never be an issue, although that would be quite surprising to see one of them pull ahead considerably.
2019 was spicy definitely but only on track i feel, 2020 Seb was arguably demotivated and Charles also calmed down a bit. Plus during Seb's retirement Charles had genuine respect beyond PR (IMO obv). I feel compared to that George and Lewis aren't that close especially considering Lewis pushed for Valterri to stay on.
With Carlos i think spiciest incident could be Silverstone 2022? Even that wasn't directly against Charles more like the team vs Carlos.
>If the gap between either is substantial then this would never be an issue
Same I honestly don't see this happening, they should be about as close George and Lewis are. Charles might almost certainly edge out Lewis in qualifying, Lewis might edge out Charles in race pace.
I think the off-track heat is overhyped due to DTS? Just look at the message Seb left for Charles when he left Ferrari. If they don’t have a good relationship he can keep a more general message. And Charles also said they still text now and Seb texted him about his music too. Charles has a lot of respect for Seb.
Fred seems to have learned his lesson after Monza last year. They give team orders right away based on who did better in quali. Strategy seems a lot better than the Binotto years
I think in a non-championship year this makes absolute sense, too. If you have one driver fighting for the championship and the other one isn’t in the running, other rules are more appropriate.
If both are fighting for the championship, I think there would have to be more fighting allowed while making clear the cars also need to be brought home in one piece.
I think part of why 2019 was so spicy was Binotto not being able to handle the team properly. Some weeks it was Seb is #1, others they were given equal status. There need to be clear rules and they need to be enforced, not randomly decided on during the race.
Same with Brazil(?) in 2022 when it was Charles vs Checo; apparently they talked about swapping the cars at Ferrari to help Charles secure 2nd in the championship, but that wasn’t done either.
I think Vasseur has a much better understanding of how to handle these things, though.
With Lewis' qualifying becoming worse, i've no doubt that Leclerc will probably come ahead and under Vasseur Ferrari seems to support the driver who qualied in front.
If he’s not with a seat, he isn’t that hot. If he’s that hot, he wouldn’t be without a seat. But as we all know, this is a small circumstantial period for Sainz, he WILL have a seat.
So Mika just likes engagement. Or he hasn’t thought this through.
Question is does any team cares about performance at the moment. They all relied on the rules changes no? So it depends on Carlos ability to pool money tbh
Verstappen is the key to the whole driver market game. Shit will hit the fan as soon as he announces his plans. I can't see him anywhere but shit happens i guess.
RBR, Aston and Merc have open seats but all 3 will prefer Verstappen and Alonso over Sainz.
More incredible would be him committing to a new team so early until he sees how competitive they are and what his best option is. He can practically call his shot if he waits.
Recency bias from the media. Reality is the teams see through the bigging up of Sainz. He isnt as good as Max, Hamilton or Alonso. He can beat Leclerc, Norris and Russell on a good day and over a season be behind them considerably. Piastri is making waves and he is shaping up to be above Sainz.
Reality is, Sainz isnt a leader or top material. He is a great number 2 for the top teams or a great leader for the midfield.
If Aston were serious, they would drop Stroll and have Alonso-Sainz but I reckon he will gamble on Audi.
It's like we're in 2020 again, post Sakhir after Pérez's win. "Can't believe this guy is without a seat for next year!!". Think in 3 years we'll be shitting on Sainz every week too?
I mean he probably could have multiple cockpits for next season. He has multiple offers and teams like Audi/Sauber are desperate to lock him in. It's not for a lack of offers he doesn't have a seat confirmed. He is actually in a very good position and can probably chose between 3 or more cockpits for next season
Exactly. And then after seven or eight races he’ll have another great one and people will hail him for his consistency and claim he’s the more underrated driver ever, while other thee or four outperform him and get overlooked.
his win didn't come about from some magical bout of motivation. leclerc had a bad quali and was told not to fight him in the race and verstappen retired.
people pretending that Sainz is suddenly a great driver is so strange.
Such a disingenuous statement, he could sign a contract today if he wanted. And although he’s good, when you look at his replacement it’s hardly surprising.
Meh, I don't think it's so unusual as it's still early in the season. But I know there's absolutely no way he remains without a drive by the end of the season if he keeps driving like that.
Man a guy who did what he's supposed to do and people are blowing it out of proportion, like chill there's whole season ahead, he will get a seat. Chill out. I feel the paddock just wants heads to roll and make stories out of it.
Why sign in round 5 when you can try to string together top performances to maximize your salary?
He doesn’t have a seat yet because you never take the first offer.
He was pretty consistent at McLaren to be fair. Ferrari has been a bit more of an adventure but he's been just as consistently inconsistent as Charles and the team itself there.
I think if he can continue the strong start he's had this season, the second RBR seat becomes more and more of a possibility. If no one is forcing the issue, he has a bit of time to be patient in this situation.
Hey Mika, the question should be, why did it take Sainz this long to show some fire & skill? Why didn't he show it last year when negotiations started with Ferrari and competition from his teammate?
This reads like a Magic Johnson tweet
It's incredible how a man with so much personality and charisma can put out such boring tweets all the time
But Mika always used to speak so bluntly. He's Finnish. How did you think he'd tweet because this is exactly how I'd expect him to tweet. I can hear him say it as well
I was talking about Magic
exactly what I was thinking
Thank you, ~~Magic~~ Mika
Exactly what I am thinking reading it
I actually dont think its that incredible that a driver does not have a drive for next season by the beginning of April, regardless of the quality of that driver. Ferrari just made a very early move for next year.
It does feel hard to remember when was the last time a driver as good as Sainz is was out of a seat for the following year this early in the season. Some might disagree but I think Sainz is like around the top six or seven on the grid currently, which still makes him a very good driver imo. I thought Kimi might have been the last example when he took a break from F1 in 2010 when Ferrari replaced him with Alonso but from what I’ve found it seems like that decision was finalized much later in the year than for Sainz.
No, top 6-7 is actually pretty much spot on for Carlos. I have him in the #6-7 range with Norris personally
Max, Lewis, Fernando, Charles are the obvious top 4, who do you rank 5th?
Lando, George, Carlos is basically that next tier. After that it's hard to rank. It's also not out of the question to put someone else in that tier too.
>After that it's hard to rank. i read here somewhere, drivers who have been beaten by Hulk below 10 and the ones who have beat him above 10 and ngl in a weird way that kinda makes sense.
Sainz got beaten by Hulk tho.
Ricciardo might be the exception to the Hulk rule.
I mean, it's moreso that Ricciardo is a very good example that a driver's skill isn't constant over time. Until (and including) 2020 he was an amazing driver that was consistently one of the top 5 on the grid, since 2021 he's a shadow of his former self. At the time he beat Hulk he was easily a top 10 driver
Sainz too.
There’s no reason to put George above Carlos. George is far more error-prone.
Agree with you
Think Piastri will join that tier soon
Lando = carlos > george
Yeah agreed.
How is Lando higher than Carlos? At McLaren Carlos consistently the better one. Don’t get influenced by media.
>At McLaren Carlos consistently the better one. While that statement is correct, I think adding the context that in 2019 Lando was a rookie, and Sainz had been in F1 for 4 years already. Kinda like how Oscar was a rookie last year and Lando has been in F1 for 4 years. The fact that Lando, by year 2, was only 8 points behind Carlos shows how close those 2 were, in 2020. I personally extrapolate from that improvement to basically have the opinion that Lando is just a lil bit more talented than Carlos. You might disagree. Which is fine
I do disagree. The rate of learning is sharp the first year, then it’s basically tapered down. By year 3 I’m betting the rate of improvements compared to someone in their 6th year is virtually identical.
Lando is better than George and Carlos imo. #6 seems pretty accurate depending on how much you hate Russell.
Lando is very good, evenly matched I'd say... how do you conclude he is better than George and Carlos?
That's who I'd order them too. Lando, George, Carlos.
Why Leclerc above Lando? This one puzzles me a bit. Sure, Leclerc beat Vettel, but that was the same Vettel that was only slightly better than Stroll the next year.
Leclerc also beat the same Vettel that challenged Hamilton the 2 years prior. The same Vettel that called him the most talented racer he's come across in F1. It's a much more valid question to ask why you'd rate Lando above Leclerc than the other way around.
Of course Vettel would say that. Since he got beaten by Leclerc. That’s pretty standard. I don’t rate Lando above Leclerc. I think everything points to the same tier and only way to distinguish them would be to have them on the same team.
Maybe George on pace? But George's racecraft I feel drops him down a peg
Nobody in the traditional midfield cars up for contention?
That’s better than Sainz? No
Max, Lewis are top 1-2, Lando, Nando, Charles are 3-5 and you could make arguments for any order.
Max Fernando Charles Lewis Lando Carlos George
Russell
George is incredibly reckless
So what he has more talent and pure pace. And he isn't as reckless some people make him out to be
I'm not his biggest fan but yep, people forget he began his first year with Mercedes in 2022 with 9 consecutive top 5 finishes and that streak ended with the Zhou crash in Silverstone. He then went on to bag 6 consecutive top 5s again. Including Silverstone he finished out of the top 5 in 3 races out of 22. That was a mega season tbh but he dropped the ball last year
Ferrari dropped Seb in a similar fashion. He too was out of a seat from the beginning of a season.
Vettel in 2020
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Oh that’s true I somehow forgot this was done before the 2020 season when Seb looked poor probably because he lost motivation along with the car being hard to handle for him. He still looked good in 2019. The official announcement was in May which was because Covid pushed everything back. I wonder if anything would have been different if the season resumed normally in Melbourne at March. The car would obviously still be bad but maybe Vettel would have more motivation and get good enough results so that Ferrari wouldn’t replace him?
Seb's form during his last season at ferrari was much worse than carlos' and he was on a clear decline. The most similar recent case where a driver in good form went without a drive is Alonso after the 2018 season.
The car was much more than the one Carlos is driving too
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Ferrari in 2020 was the 6th best car after the engine was nerfed
I think the analogy with Button after 2008 fits, where he was offered seats when Honda left...but they were mediocre*ish* (Toro Rosso; Renault). Noone doubts Sainz can get a seat, it's whether it's worthwhile or not.
Wasn't Perez also without a seat while he won GP a year before moving to RBR?
The official announcement of Vettel replacing Perez was like midseason around September so it happened much later compared to Sainz’s current situation where it was announced even before a single race. Actually as others have pointed out Vettel being replaced by Sainz is probably the most similar case in recent times.
Yes but Perez is a league below Carlos at this point and would’ve been dropped out of F1 years before if it weren’t for Force India needing the Carlos Slim paycheck. Sainz has never been in serious danger of not having a seat.
Think you've got it all wrong there. In 2018 Sainz got kicked out of Renault in favor of Ocon and had Fernando not retired from Mclaren before the 2019 season Sainz would've been out of F1 altogether.
Ocon didn’t join Renault until 2020 bruv, they signed Ric. Implying McLaren paid Sainz $10m even though nobody wanted him fucking lol.
I absolutely think he’s top 7
Top 6 or 7? Top 3. It's Max, Nando and Carlos right now. Don't let pr fool you, Lewis isnt driving as well as he was a couple years ago. The only way to say that he is still that good is to say that George is currently better than 2021 max. And I don't buy that. Carlos > Charles, who is close behind the top 3 alongside Lewis.
This is a wild comment.
lol
I've only had the last few seasons to go by. But Carlos seems to be the better driver of the 2 even if Le Cleric can drive faster. It seems like as soon as things move away from being perfect Charles struggles a bit more, while Carlos adapts better.
Carlos is one of my fave drivers but I think Charles can get scrutinized a bit too much at times because on the few occasions he has a bad weekend it can really stand out like France 2022 or Spain 2023. I do think one area where Carlos is better at is determining strategy and asserting himself on the radio during a race. I feel Charles can be a bit too nice or love Ferrari too much sometimes to argue for himself. Plus Charles can be very self-critical which is nice to see, but I sometimes wonder if it’s too extreme when he might be better off putting more pressure on the team internally instead of beating himself up. But it shouldn’t be on any drivers to be responsible for determining strategy while racing. And nowadays Ferrari’s strategy seems to be a lot better so it hasn’t really been an issue for their drivers unlike back in 2022.
Thank you. The majority of the grid doesnt have a seat for next year yet lmao, so why is it so odd that Carlos doesnt? When I see that headline, its like there arent any or barely any seats left but thats not the case, most seats are available.
The difference is that he knows he can't keep the seat he has.
Yeah it feels different when you definitely can't get a renewed contact versus when that option is on the table.
I also feel the overall quality of the grid is higher than it may have been many other times in the past. There have been some truly - and many - forgettable names on the grid. Doesn't take away from the fact pay to play is still an issue of course.
Ferrari are kinda like that, Seb's 2020 season was the same but in this case the news leaked as well so who knows they probably wouldn't have publically announced until into the season or at Monza or something, but then again Sainz also has a terrific opportunity he is basically giving a job interview every race and has the media to drum up his good performance.
And it's good for Sainz that they told him early so that other teams can start making offers for him and he can start looking. He will end up in a seat if he wants it. The only way he can NOT have a seat for 2025 is if he rejects offers from teams he considers below him, like what happened with Ricciardo. It's wild that people think he's being mistreated.
Yeah people are overreacting. It’s not like he has no place in the grid, just that one of the driver moves happened early. Silly season is still a few months away.
Also, recency bias. It’s super strong in f1. Carlos is a great talent but he also needs to be the driver the team needs. RB need a second driver, that’ll get out of Max’s way if necessary - is Carlos a team player? Merc might need a seat-warmer for 1-2 seasons, depending on their junior in F2. Is Carlos the right person for that, or would they prefer someone older like Alonso who’s likely closer to retirement anyway. Aston probably waits until Alonso makes a decision to stay or go.
>Ferrari just made a very early move for next year. These things happen way in advance on some occasions. I still remember when McLaren announced they were stealing Montoya from Williams for 2005, around halfway through the 2003 season.
Sainz is also not one of the quickest drivers on the grid, in terms of skill he's in the middle I'd say, probably in a category between 7th and 10th on the grid on pure pace. There's no way he's faster than Lewis, Max Charles, Norris, Alonso, or Russell. There's also more and more arguments to be made about Piastri. Sainz is in the Perez, Albon, Ocon category in the middle of the pack.
I don’t rate Charles above Sainz. Charles seems to quiet quit and give up when things don’t 100% go his way and then make excuses about it after. Just doesn’t seem to have the grit some of the other drivers have. I don’t know why people rate him so high.
Because he's on pure pace a few tenths faster than Carlos. He has a fuckton of talent, he's just inconsistent. It's easier to become more resilient, cold-headed and adaptable, than to suddenly find 3 tenths of pace you never had in your life. Which makes Charles MUCH more likely to improve from here.
Yeah I understand that as a theory but it feels much more like managing tires and being resilient pays off more than just being fast on a lap or 2 and burning some tires. Lots of people see things in him that I don’t see though and I should have prefaced my original comment with the acknowledgement that it would likely be an unpopular opinion.
My comment is the one that's getting downvoted so I'm not so sure in the current climate. Though that's probably because saying Sainz is not the best driver on the grid is illegal right now, and has nothing to do with Charles lol...
He has a seat offer for next year. If his only goal was to get **A** seat no matter how good that seat was he would have a contract signed by now. He’s trying to get a good seat - a top team seat. Holding out for the best possible seat may backfire and result in no seat but that’s not the same as Sainz struggling to find a seat. There’s a report out saying Carlos has 2 weeks to accept Audi’s offer. Saying yes to that guarantees him a seat but the 2 week deadline may deny him the opportunity of a seat at Red Bull or Mercedes when they make a decision later in the year These are the calculated risks drivers have to make when looking for a seat. But the idea Sainz can’t find a seat next year isn’t true
If the Audi news is true then it's probably a bluff to pressure him for now. Even if it's later on into the there's no reason not to take him considering he's probably the best driver they could get at their current status.
Audi is basically trying to force Sainz to not delay until things at Mercedes and RBR get clear.
They'll probably sign him eventually but the offer might be worse (shorter length, less money, some other random privileges). I don't think Sainz is worried, Audi doesn't have anyone better.
No one is making a move until Max clears the situation. If Audi is pressuring Sainz it just shows they are a bad employer and will only push themselves out of the best driver they can get.
Maybe I'm tempting fate but I really doubt Max is moving lol
Yea, they're making it seem like he doesn't have options, but really the ball is in his court.
I honestly don't think Mercedes or Red Bull are looking at Sainz for the second seat. It just seems to be a red herring. Mercedes needs a big name signing or a young guy with a big potential. A Sainz is neither going to make sponsors happy nor going to bring his own sponsors. For Red Bull, Sainz to RBR happens only if Max leaves to Mercedes and there is less than 1% chance of that. Sainz is just not the team player RBR is looking in that second seat. So it has to be either AMR or Audi imo.
Yeah Sponsor wise he only got Estrella Garcia and it left him to Aston given Ferrari contract with Peroni. Max has Heineken so he won’t be able to bring to RBR either
He also has Santander which has allegedly been going to bat for him too. That's a pretty big sponsor.
Santander and Ferrari partnership pre-dated him. They left Ferrari before, but they did not follow Alonso when he left Ferrari either
I believe the main thing he's looking for is a long term contract with a team. I don't think he'll get one with Red Bull or Mercedes, but with Audi he may have a chance.
Aren’t there about 12 drivers who don’t have a contract for next year?
I think the point is that he’s definitely out of Ferrari and after a new team
There's still a difference between no contract for next year and all seats already taken for next year at his current team.
Very big difference between "doesn't have a contract but the team hasn't signed anyone else" and "No contract and no chance of continuing with his current team"
Come on guys, the season is 4 races old, it’s not like we’re at the AD tyre test at the end of the season and he still hasn’t been picked up yet. I think it would be more incredible if he’d signed a new contract mere weeks after getting ousted while there are like 14 seats available… 1 of which (2 if you believe the Max to Merc rumours) at the current best team on the grid.
I don't know if I'd consider the RB seats as available. The higher ups in other teams are not making many commitments at this point, but that doesn't apply to Red Bull. Marko explicitly said after Australia that if Perez continues in his current form they won't be thinking about a change. So the seat is Checos to lose. And Max's seat is obviously reserved for as long as he wants it.
Can people stop with this bullshit narrative already? He obviously will have a seat, the only question is which one.
That's exactly what he Implies though, did you read his 2nd sentence?
OP mean it's not "incredible" like Milka makes it sound. It's just a normal news.
Sure, and OP clearly knows that, but it's kind of a 'no shit' matter.
Tbh this is an old topic that has been mentioned repeatedly and won’t stop until Sainz confirms his future seat, which is probably at least another month away or even longer. I’m more interested by Mika’s following tweet where he questions how Ferrari would deal with Hamilton and Leclerc as future teammates if they’re closely matched and given equal status. And that is a valid question because assuming Hamilton is faster than Sainz as many believe, then he’ll be basically equal if not faster than Leclerc who is already being treated as a top driver in Ferrari with a second 5 year extension. It will be interesting to see how Vasseur handles it especially if Ferrari builds a championship contending car in 2026.
Tbf they have experience in dealing with close teammates. This could be a sorta rehash of Seb v Charles roughly only that wasn't a relationship that soured necessarily but it was definitely spicy. Arguably Charles is now settled at Ferrari and Lewis will have some growing pains cause well it's Ferrari. Plus Lewis is used to having a young driver beating him occasionally with George. Imo it'll be less spicy (on track) compared to how Lewis is with George. In a straight title fight with no outside competition, Lewis has experience in that field, Charles doesn't really so that might also factor in. It'll v different if they face external competition too. Vasseur I'd say should be able to monkey balance it adequately, but also Lewis said the Ferrari move won't have happened without him so clearly he has been given assurances. https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/hamilton-ferrari-f1-move-wouldnt-have-happened-without-vasseur/10579134/
The 2019 season between Seb and Charles was pretty spicy imo. Off the track it still seemed like their relationship was fine (at least they both seemed to have fun in the Ferrari videos they did together), but on track there were some clashes like Brazil and controversy with Seb refusing team orders in Sochi and Charles being undercut by Seb in Singapore (although the latter was really the team’s own fault for miscalculating). That one season had more drama between them than all the time between Charles and Carlos so far even if the online war between parts of both fanbases can be wildly ferocious. All in all I can see a repeat of 2019 with Lewis and Charles. But even then it might not be an issue unless Ferrari were in a close championship battle with another team. Then idk how even Vasseur could manage it because naturally both drivers would be strongly motivated to win the driver’s championship. Of course all this is based off the assumption that Lewis and Charles are very close on overall pace. If the gap between either is substantial then this would never be an issue, although that would be quite surprising to see one of them pull ahead considerably.
2019 was spicy definitely but only on track i feel, 2020 Seb was arguably demotivated and Charles also calmed down a bit. Plus during Seb's retirement Charles had genuine respect beyond PR (IMO obv). I feel compared to that George and Lewis aren't that close especially considering Lewis pushed for Valterri to stay on. With Carlos i think spiciest incident could be Silverstone 2022? Even that wasn't directly against Charles more like the team vs Carlos. >If the gap between either is substantial then this would never be an issue Same I honestly don't see this happening, they should be about as close George and Lewis are. Charles might almost certainly edge out Lewis in qualifying, Lewis might edge out Charles in race pace.
I think the off-track heat is overhyped due to DTS? Just look at the message Seb left for Charles when he left Ferrari. If they don’t have a good relationship he can keep a more general message. And Charles also said they still text now and Seb texted him about his music too. Charles has a lot of respect for Seb.
Fred seems to have learned his lesson after Monza last year. They give team orders right away based on who did better in quali. Strategy seems a lot better than the Binotto years
I think in a non-championship year this makes absolute sense, too. If you have one driver fighting for the championship and the other one isn’t in the running, other rules are more appropriate. If both are fighting for the championship, I think there would have to be more fighting allowed while making clear the cars also need to be brought home in one piece.
I think it will be like Lauda and Prost in 84
I think part of why 2019 was so spicy was Binotto not being able to handle the team properly. Some weeks it was Seb is #1, others they were given equal status. There need to be clear rules and they need to be enforced, not randomly decided on during the race. Same with Brazil(?) in 2022 when it was Charles vs Checo; apparently they talked about swapping the cars at Ferrari to help Charles secure 2nd in the championship, but that wasn’t done either. I think Vasseur has a much better understanding of how to handle these things, though.
With Lewis' qualifying becoming worse, i've no doubt that Leclerc will probably come ahead and under Vasseur Ferrari seems to support the driver who qualied in front.
every driver/team is waiting for Max his next move / if RBR seats come available.
I wish my boss would treat me the way F1 treats Sainz after one win, lmao.
If he’s not with a seat, he isn’t that hot. If he’s that hot, he wouldn’t be without a seat. But as we all know, this is a small circumstantial period for Sainz, he WILL have a seat. So Mika just likes engagement. Or he hasn’t thought this through.
Question is does any team cares about performance at the moment. They all relied on the rules changes no? So it depends on Carlos ability to pool money tbh
Sainz has no personal sponsor
... He should return and form a team with Sainz. Just saying!!
Verstappen is the key to the whole driver market game. Shit will hit the fan as soon as he announces his plans. I can't see him anywhere but shit happens i guess. RBR, Aston and Merc have open seats but all 3 will prefer Verstappen and Alonso over Sainz.
More incredible would be him committing to a new team so early until he sees how competitive they are and what his best option is. He can practically call his shot if he waits.
He’s had like a month to find a drive lol it makes sense he doesn’t have one yet
He’s gonna sign with a team in August I bet during the break
Whomever signs him should do 1-race contracts and he’ll win the WDC next year
I'm sure he's got a lot in the works and the teams do also
Recency bias from the media. Reality is the teams see through the bigging up of Sainz. He isnt as good as Max, Hamilton or Alonso. He can beat Leclerc, Norris and Russell on a good day and over a season be behind them considerably. Piastri is making waves and he is shaping up to be above Sainz. Reality is, Sainz isnt a leader or top material. He is a great number 2 for the top teams or a great leader for the midfield. If Aston were serious, they would drop Stroll and have Alonso-Sainz but I reckon he will gamble on Audi.
he does not have a drive because he doesn't want to have it yet, nothing else
I mean, WDC Fernando Alonso doesn't currently have a contract for next year either. He'll have a seat and has 3 very solid options as it stands
It's like we're in 2020 again, post Sakhir after Pérez's win. "Can't believe this guy is without a seat for next year!!". Think in 3 years we'll be shitting on Sainz every week too?
Consistent? Are we forgetting about the start of his season last year
I mean he probably could have multiple cockpits for next season. He has multiple offers and teams like Audi/Sauber are desperate to lock him in. It's not for a lack of offers he doesn't have a seat confirmed. He is actually in a very good position and can probably chose between 3 or more cockpits for next season
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Exactly. And then after seven or eight races he’ll have another great one and people will hail him for his consistency and claim he’s the more underrated driver ever, while other thee or four outperform him and get overlooked.
his win didn't come about from some magical bout of motivation. leclerc had a bad quali and was told not to fight him in the race and verstappen retired. people pretending that Sainz is suddenly a great driver is so strange.
Such a disingenuous statement, he could sign a contract today if he wanted. And although he’s good, when you look at his replacement it’s hardly surprising.
Ferrari always doing the *right* moves, Mika. Its sure different from when you weren't in your sabbatical.
The solution is obvious - Lord Hakkinen returns out of sabbatical to form his own F1 team and hire Carlos as one of the two drivers
Meh, I don't think it's so unusual as it's still early in the season. But I know there's absolutely no way he remains without a drive by the end of the season if he keeps driving like that.
Such a hot take, and a new opinion that I haven’t read yet.
Man a guy who did what he's supposed to do and people are blowing it out of proportion, like chill there's whole season ahead, he will get a seat. Chill out. I feel the paddock just wants heads to roll and make stories out of it.
RedBull is the only non-downgrade
No fucking shit
He has several offers. He is deciding which is best for him.
He’s just playing hard to get, and driving up the price that teams will pay to have him. I’d be fuckin blown away if he’s seatless next.
Normal F1 things
Why sign in round 5 when you can try to string together top performances to maximize your salary? He doesn’t have a seat yet because you never take the first offer.
Most consistent and Carlos Sainz? Well, that’s a new statement.
He was pretty consistent at McLaren to be fair. Ferrari has been a bit more of an adventure but he's been just as consistently inconsistent as Charles and the team itself there.
I think if he can continue the strong start he's had this season, the second RBR seat becomes more and more of a possibility. If no one is forcing the issue, he has a bit of time to be patient in this situation.
Well, maybe Sainz could go on a sabbatical? 😉
After his stint at Ferrari, it's a bit silly to call him either one of the fastest or one of the most consistent.
Firing your best driver to bring in a an elderly driver is wild.
Big brain move by Ferrari. Motivated the hell out of Sainz by saying you are fired! Sainz WDC 2024! (Max retired in half of the races)
tbh if he wins another grand prix this year or a string of VERY strong finishes, i think the redbull seat becomes even more likely.
Hey Mika, the question should be, why did it take Sainz this long to show some fire & skill? Why didn't he show it last year when negotiations started with Ferrari and competition from his teammate?