Rumours that Carlos Sainz could sign for Red Bull are intensifying after Helmut Marko admitted that the Ferrari driver “is definitely a call to consider” for the 2025 F1 season.
Despite receiving confirmation over the winter that he would lose his Ferrari seat to Lewis Hamilton for 2025, Sainz has enjoyed his season opener in 2024, taking his third career win at the Australian Grand Prix last month.
The Spaniard has been strongly linked with a switch to Sauber ahead of Audi’s long-awaited entry into F1 in 2026, but would be in favour of joining a team with faster, winning customers with seats that could theoretically be obtained at Red Bull, Mercedes and Aston. Martin.
After his career at Toro Rosso (now RB) in 2015, Sainz may emerge as a serious contender to upgrade Sergio Perez for 2025, with team principal Christian Horner admitting in Australia that Red Bull cannot rule out a move for its former junior. star.
“We need to form the most productive duo imaginable with Red Bull Racing, so you rarely have to look out of the pool as well,” Horner said in Melbourne.
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“In some regions the market is quite fluid. Based on functionality like this, we can’t rule out any possibility.
And long-time Red Bull adviser Marko, who was photographed shaking hands with Sainz in the paddock on Friday, claimed the outgoing Ferrari driver is on any list of potential replacements for Perez, whose current contract expires at the end of the championship. year. 2024.
He told Sky Germany: “Sainz is fit at the moment.
“Sainz came to Formula 1 through Red Bull and also had a very smart year at Toro Rosso. Sainz is a call to consider.
“We don’t normally communicate driver decisions in April, but it turns out that everything has progressed a lot.
“But it’s still too early for us, we’re definitely going to wait a little bit before making a decision. “
Marko’s comments come after Perez claimed on the eve of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix that it was “only a matter of time” before starting talks with Red Bull about a new deal, insisting the team and driver were “happy” with each other after a strong start to the season.
After completing a second behind Verstappen in the first two races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Perez impressed again in qualifying at the tricky Suzuka circuit on Saturday, beating his team-mate by 0. 066 seconds.
However, Marko claimed that Perez’s current form is being influenced by his determination to secure a new contract, following a similarly strong start to the 2022 and 2023 campaigns.
He added: “You can see that he can do it.
“But it also influences the fact that next year’s contracts are up for grabs, much earlier than this season’s.
“It’s also very motivating. “
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