Sainz 'talking to everyone' in race to secure F1 future

Carlos Sainz is "talking to everyone" about a future drive in Formula 1, after Ferrari elected not to renew his contract in favour of Lewis Hamilton for 2025.

Hamilton will make the switch from Mercedes after 11 years at the team, in which he won six Drivers' Championships. Sainz has two wins so far with Ferrari, and is now left with seeking a drive at another team to secure his F1 future.

His name has been linked to Audi's project which is set to debut in 2026, but the Spaniard is also looking at other options.

"My name now is linked to everything not only Audi or Mercedes, because realistically, I'm talking to everyone and I'm seeing all my options," he told media, including RacingNews365.

Sainz confirmed that he will not be helping Ferrari on their 2025 car, with the focus switched to maximising the most out of the SF-24.

"My future is clear in terms of I will not be in Ferrari in 2025, so all the focus is on 2024 on how to extract the maximum performance," said Sainz.

"We will push that out together to win as many races as possible and be competitive this year. Obviously, I will not be focusing on developing this car, because I'm not going to drive it next year and they will not want me to be involved for the future.

"But in regards to this year's car, I'm going to be flat out and giving my absolute best with the expectation of them giving also their best for this year."

Sainz: Ferrari news was 'hard hit'

The news that Hamilton would replace Sainz followed rumours midway through last year that Ferrari were courting the seven-time world champion, although Sainz was under the impression that his contract would be renewed.

"It was a hard hit. Of course it was a hard hit because I didn't expect it. I was pretty sure I was gonna renew my contract with a Ferrari and all the conversations until then had been positive," said Sainz.

"We were fairly confident that we would be together, but then everything changed very quickly and my situation changed completely."

Despite the setback, Sainz believes he is in a good position to secure his future in F1: "I still feel like I'm in a good situation, I still can choose where to go next. I've put myself in a good position to be able to choose well and where I want to do my next steps in my career."