Sainz: When making a decision I take all factors into account

Carlos Sainz said he still hasn’t made a decision about where he will compete in 2025 – he simply didn’t have time to think things through and weigh everything up. According to him, he plans to make a decision in the coming weeks and will take all factors into account. But of course he started this weekend with the prospects for Ferrari…

Carlos Sainz: “It is always an incredible pleasure to perform in my home country, especially in recent years when I have worked with Ferrari and Fernando Alonso has become an Aston Martin driver and we have the opportunity to qualify for the podium . I don’t know if this can be compared to 2005 or 2010, when he was fighting for championship victory, but now the popularity of Formula 1 in Spain is again at a very high level.

Naturally, Ferrari analyzed the reasons for the failure in Canada, where we expected to perform much better. Unfortunately we couldn’t find the right approach for working with the rubber, and this probably applies to the settings to some extent as well.

But there are 24 stages on the calendar and there will still be races in which it will be possible to perform at a very high level, but mistakes are also inevitable. We have tried to draw the necessary conclusions, and now we have to work on a track that is more ‘normal’ in all respects, which we know very well, so we hope that in Barcelona we will be much more competitive.

As for the latest news about next year’s contract, the decision will be made very soon. I don’t want to wait any longer, because this issue has been bothering me for several months. It’s time to make a decision, and in the near future we will have something to talk about. But I have not yet made a final choice, for this I need to spend at least a few quiet days at home, and before the Spanish Grand Prix there was no such opportunity.

My schedule after Canada was very busy, I didn’t have time to think about the upcoming decision, but it will be made in the coming weeks. Although I cannot say unequivocally that this decision depends on the prospects associated with 2026, when Formula 1 will switch to new technical regulations.

It is almost impossible to guess now who will show better results in two years. I would say this is a kind of lottery, because the new regulations are very different from the current ones – this applies to both the chassis and the engine. But if I can’t predict who will be fast in 2026, then for me it’s all about what level I will perform at in 2025.

At the same time I try to take into account all the factors: what kind of chassis my future team will have, what engines it will have. All this also influences my decision.”