Fernando Alonso‘s decision to stick with Aston Martin until at least 2026 closed one door for fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz, who remains the biggest free agent in Formula One after the announcement earlier this year that his seat at Ferrari will go to Lewis Hamilton in 2025.
It’s quite a remarkable situation for a man who is one of F1’s most in-form drivers, the only competitor to beat Red Bull to a race win since November 2022. The biggest compliment to Sainz’s performances compared with those of teammate Charles Leclerc is that the question has been raised of whether Ferrari has binned the wrong driver for next year.
Aston Martin was clearly an option that interested Sainz. Team owner Lawrence Stroll has invested heavily in the project and has ambitions to turn the team into world champions in the near future. Sainz has shown in the past two seasons that he is a talent worthy of a car that can challenge for a championship, and Aston might well be that in 2026, when it takes the Honda supply of engines that have powered Red Bull to its current run of titles.
Stroll’s determination to leave son Lance Stroll in the other seat regardless of results has limited Aston Martin’s options at a time it could realistically have formed a superteam of Sainz and Alonso, eliminating the chance of what would have been a brilliant long-term option. With Aston now out of the equation, Sainz’s options appear to have whittled down to two or three, although it’s difficult to see a clear destination at this stage.
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Red Bull
This would be a dream move for any driver, given Red Bull’s dominance of F1 right now. Sainz has clearly been on Red Bull’s radar, with team boss Christian Horner admitting as much after seeing the Ferrari man win the Australian Grand Prix. Sainz was cut adrift by the Red Bull programme midway through 2017 having never featured for the senior team, something that still grates on him today.
Joining Red Bull at the moment means partnering Max Verstappen, who has become perhaps the biggest teammate killer in F1 history. Last year one agent told ESPN that the deck is stacked against any driver who races at Red Bull while Verstappen is there given how the team has been built around the Dutchman, and understandably so given his generational talent and success. Sources with knowledge of the situation say this is not something Sainz is worried about, having proved at Ferrari his ability to step up when viewed by many…
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