As F1 heads to its busiest stretch yet, with five races in six weeks until the summer break, more dominos are expected to fall in the 2025 driver market.
Don’t expect any sudden moves at Mercedes, as the team has time on its side. It has been clear for a while now that youngster Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be in the car if nothing unexpected happens.
But as long as there is a sliver of hope of getting Max Verstappen after all, Wolff is keeping his door open for the Dutchman as the Verstappens have not yet made a final decision on leaving Christian Horner and Red Bull Racing.
Neither Verstappen nor Mercedes are particularly in a rush. Wolff has Antonelli secured if Verstappen doesn’t come, and Verstappen doesn’t have to go anywhere either. Therefore Verstappen’s decision, which will be made in unison with Helmut Marko, could theoretically be made towards the end of the season.
A lot hinges on Mercedes’s competitiveness, as it makes little sense for Verstappen to leave a winning car for 2025 and jeopardise his championship chances. Just a few weeks ago trading a Red Bull for a Mercedes would have been unthinkable, but the Silver Arrows have made significant improvements to their W14 and Verstappen can now sit back and see how their form develops over the summer.
While there is no imminent movement at the top, Carlos Sainz is currently “the cork in the bottle”, as Kevin Magnussen described it. “I think a lot of guys are waiting for him to make a move and then eventually all the other pieces of the puzzle will fall. That’s the truth of that.”
Sainz says he is yet to sign a 2025 deal, with offers on the table from Williams and from Sauber/Audi, with the former seen as the favourite to sign him. His decision impacts drivers vying for the open seats at the aforementioned teams as well as the open slots at Alpine and Haas, with Magnussen, Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas all trying find a spot before the music stops.
Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
“The decision will be taken soon,” Sainz promised on Thursday. “I don’t want to wait any longer. I think it’s getting to a point where it’s obviously taking space out of my head for quite a few weeks now and months and I think it’s obviously time to make a decision.
“It’s almost impossible to predict who is going to be performing in 2026. And so then ‘25 becomes also important. At that stage, If I cannot predict ‘26 and I don’t know…
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