Alpine advisor surprised over lack of clarity in Carlos Sainz’s future in Formula 1

Alpine's new advisor and former team principal, Flavio Briatore was surprised that Carlos Sainz is still a free agent in the F1's driver market. Briatore publicly stated that the French team was interested in the Spaniard.

Before the 2024 F1 season, Ferrari announced that they would sign Lewis Hamilton in 2025. At the same time, Carlos Sainz stated that he would leave the Italian giants and continue his F1 journey in some other team. Several rumors emerged about which team could hire the Spaniard, who was the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race in 2023.

Teams like Audi, Red Bull, and Williams, emerged as potential destinations Sainz could land in 2025. Recently, however, reports claimed that Alpine has also joined the race to get the Ferrari driver. The Enstone-based team hired Flavio Briatore as their advisor. The Italian businessman was once the team's head when they were still called Renault F1. It was rumored that Briatore urged the team seniors to bring in Sainz.

As per "as.com", Briatore recently claimed that Alpine is heavily interested in bringing in Carlos Sainz. However, he admits that, as of now, improving the car should be higher on the team's priority list than bringing in top drivers.

He said he was surprised to see Sainz still being a free agent in the F1 driver market, especially considering how many teams want him.

“There is a lot of interest, we’ll see in the coming days. Although right now for Alpine, the driver doesn’t make a difference, we have to get the car right first. Incredibly, he [Sainz] is still free, we are all willing to have him on the team and we will do what we can,” Briatore said.

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Carlos Sainz desperate to decide his future in F1 soon

At the Spanish GP, Carlos Sainz stated that he wants to decide his future soon and pick a team. Several teams have approached the Spaniard, but he has taken his time to consider all options before deciding where he would go next after leaving Ferrari.

Speaking at Thursday's press conference before the Spanish GP, Carlos Sainz said that he too wants to make a final decision about his future as soon as possible. He explained how the entire situation was taking up space in his head. He hinted that he would soon have a decisive answer for everyone.

“The latest is that a decision will be taken very soon. I don’t want to wait any longer. I think it’s getting to a point where it’s taking space out of my head for some weeks and months now. It’s time to make a decision and that decision will be taken soon. So, hopefully soon, we will have things to talk about,” Sainz said.

Carlos Sainz has already won a race in the 2024 F1 season in Australia. After the Austrian GP, the Spaniard stands in fourth place with 135 points.