While Ferrari’s already made its choice, other F1 frontrunners would be remiss not to put the winner of the Australian Grand Prix at the top of their driver shopping lists
ALEX KALINAUCKAS
Carlos Sainz’s performance in securing his third Formula 1 career win in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix was superb, made all the more remarkable given he’d got back into his Ferrari in Melbourne just 14 days after undergoing keyhole surgery in Jeddah to remove his appendix. The 29-year-old credited a strict “programming” of his time spent recovering in bed, including when he’d rise and go for walks, and what food was best given his situation. Twice a day he entered a hyperbaric chamber designed to boost oxygen intake and aid healing, and used an Indiba machine that specifically helps with wounds.
In the aftermath of Sainz inflicting Red Bull’s second defeat in 26 races, he is, of course, still searching for new employment in 2025, given Ferrari’s move to replace him with Lewis Hamilton for next year. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was asked about the possibility of Sainz returning to the fold he left before the end of 2017. This was right after, unprompted, he’d referred to Sainz when answering a question about Yuki Tsunoda’s career prospects: “You’ve had a very fast, unemployed driver win today’s race, so the market is reasonably fluid with certain drivers. Based on a performance like that you couldn’t rule any possibility out. So, I think you just want to take the time.”
And it’s not just where Sainz is concerned that the driver market is fluid. There’s a sense that further big shocks are coming. And the changing landscape is perhaps best summed up by the also out-of-contract Fernando Alonso one moment being linked with a possible 2025 move to Mercedes, and then this week to Red Bull. There’s also the question of what will happen to Max Verstappen in the context of the power struggle still playing out at the top of Red Bull, despite a quiet weekend on this front down under.
Sainz has shown during his relationships with Lando Norris at McLaren and Charles Leclerc at Ferrari that he could get on well enough with George Russell at Mercedes. And at Red Bull he’s a clear upgrade on Sergio Perez, who after a fine start in Bahrain and Jeddah reverted to type in Australia.
Alonso’s availability for 2025 does complicate matters for the various cases to sign Sainz. The double world champion is tenacious and can still provide top-drawer performances,
