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Laurence Edmondson, F1 Editor
MONTREAL, Canada — Carlos Sainz said he has not yet signed a contract for next year despite reports in Spain claiming that he has already inked a deal with Williams for 2025.
Sainz’s future has been a source of paddock speculation since the start of the year when Ferrari announced he would be replaced by Lewis Hamilton next season.
On Monday, another door was closed to Sainz for 2025 as Red Bull confirmed Sergio Perez would remain at the team for another two years — although the Spaniard claimed he had been aware of that deal “for a long time now.”
Williams remains a clear option for Sainz in 2025, but he said a final decision had not been made.
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“The only thing I can tell you is there is nothing locked in,” he said. “I’ve seen reports, I don’t know if it’s in Spain, people saying I’ve signed.
“I look at those things and 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 funny now seeing people say I’ve signed for Williams. It makes me laugh that this goes a bit unpunished for some media person. It concerns me that people can get away with that kind of stuff.
“When I have something to announce, you guys will be the first to know and I will be here openly talking about my future.”
Although the teams Sainz is considering for 2025 are not competitive at the moment, he said the decision he makes will be based on long-term prospects rather than who will be the most competitive in 2025.
That decision is made all the more difficult by a regulation change in 2026, which Sainz admits could make picking successful team a lottery.
“I will put everything into perspective and I will seriously consider everything in that contract that I sign,” he added. “I’m still a firm believer that in Formula One to be successfully that you need a medium-to-long term project.
“I don’t think you are ever going to be successful going somwhere for a year 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.
“It looks impossible for me to predict whose going to be competitive. I know right now you guys see it in quite 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.”