The future of Carlos Sainz Jr, who will leave Ferrari at the end of the season, is still very uncertain. Many teams would like it and recently the Red Bull team principal Christian Horner praised the Spaniard after victory in Australia. The most likely destination, however, would seem to be Sauber. The Swiss team will become Audi in 2026 and ties between the German house and the father, Carlos Sainz, are before everyone's eyes. The world rally champion, in fact, won this year's Dakar racing with the manufacturer of the rings.
Although its arrival is still almost two years away, Audi would like to bring forward its lineup to 2025, so as not to have too many upheavals in a single season. Another factor that could bring Sainz to Sauber-Audi is the figure of Andreas Seidl. German is currently the CEO of the Bottas and Zhou team, but he has already worked with Sainz as his team principal at McLaren.
Audi, ultimatum to Sainz for mid-April
Seidl wants Sainz and quickly. According to German newspapers BILD e Car engine and sport, the CEO of Sauber expects a response from the Ferrari driver within the next two weeks. Furthermore, if the coup is successful, they will also try to bring it to Hinwil Nico Hulkenberg (contract expiring at the end of the year with Haas), given that Audi has always admitted that it wanted to debut in Formula 1 with a German driver.
The question everyone is asking is: Sainz will accept Audi's offer? The good performances of the Spaniard (one above all the recent triumph in Australia) have also attracted theattention of more famous teams including Red Bull (who would like him instead of Perez) or Mercedes (for after Hamilton). Unlike them, Audi will require a few years of work before it can be competitive and Sainz, 30 years old in September, would like to be able to continue fighting at the top straight away. In any case, only time will tell us the answer.
