Carlos Sainz denies reports that he's rejected Audi's offer and will wait for Mercedes and Red Bull

Carlos Sainz has denied suggestions of him skipping the deadline to accept Audi’s offer in favour of Red Bull and Mercedes. Speaking to onsite media ahead of the Miami GP, the Ferrari driver stated his preferences before signing up with teams for 2025 and beyond.

A spanish journalist Antonio Lobato, who had close links with Carlos Sainz, tweeted that the latter was overlooking the Audi project for options such as Mercedes and Red Bull. It was suggested that the Spanish driver could have skipped the deadline to accept the German automaker’s offer. Despite both Red Bull and Mercedes claiming that it is too early for them to decide their 2025 lineup, they seemed to be his primary options as mentioned to media including Sportskeeda in China.

Clarifying speculation about the Audi offer, Carlos Sainz suggested that the information about him rejecting their offer or missing the deadline was incorrect. Ideally, his criteria is for a decent multi-year contract with a team. Red Bull have many options lined up whereas Mercedes are keen on wooing Max Verstappen or promoting their reserve Kimi Antonelli.

Asked by media in Miami if he had rejected the Audi offer, Carlos Sainz replied:

“That’s not correct. There’s no truth about it, no. Nothing to add. As I’ve said before, you know, there are certain things that they don’t depend fully on myself. And there’s going to be some waiting to be done. But in the meantime, it’s not like I’m or we are completely stopped. And we are still in conversations with people and advancing what we can advance. All those things, always including the waiting that, as I said before, we’re going to need to do to people to make up their minds in many areas.”

On his preferences to make the right choice for 2025, he said:

“I think like any other employee in any other company — just the full support, full backing of the company. Allowing me to extract the best out of myself. A good medium term project, that allows me to focus not only in the today and now, but also on the medium term future. And just good people around me […] And that’s why you need to keep all the options open for the moment.”

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Carlos Sainz feels other factors apart from Audi's success involved in decision making

Carlos Sainz hailed the Volkswagen Group’s success in their Motorsport projects including Audi which is something to consider before signing with them. He said his father had positive things to say about Audi and had confidence in their success with the F1 team.

Nevertheless, he believes there are more factors involved before taking a decision to drive for them. The 29-year-old stated that there were no assurances from the team but that he wanted to take his own time before arriving at the right decision.

Commenting on Sainz Sr.’s opinion on Audi and his own decision, Carlos Sainz said:

“The project and how confident he [Carlos Sainz Sr] is that Audi will make it to the top in Formula 1. And if you follow the Volkswagen projects, every time they’ve been involved in motorsports — doesn’t matter if it’s with Porsche, with Audi or any of the Volkswagen group, they’ve managed to win and I think that’s a very important asset. And something very important to consider.”

“But in my decision and obviously in everything there’s a lot more factors involved. I really hope Audi in the future can fight for the win. Because it would just mean one more car fighting for wins. And a massive brand like they [Audi] are, I wish them the best without even having decided if that’s a possibility for me or not.”

Asked if he had any assurances from Audi about waiting on his decision, Carlos Sainz replied:

“No, the only assurance that I have is from myself that I want to take the right decision. And that’s why it’s also taking a bit longer. And that’s why I want to see all the options available before taking any fundamental decision.”

Currently, the driver market has seen Audi announcing their first driver Nico Hulkenberg for their 2025 lineup. Red Bull and Mercedes have multiple contenders for their seats, especially the former.

Although Max Verstappen has stated that he will continue with Red Bull, it is still speculated that there is a meeting due between his camp and Toto Wolff after the Miami GP. The Dutchman moving to Mercedes could leave two seats vacant for the 2025 season at Red Bull, with Sergio Perez yet to be finalised as the second driver.

At the moment, Carlos Sainz remains at the mercy of the top two teams and many suggest that the driver market could hinge on the decision the reigning champion takes.