Carlos Sainz receives another Mercedes message with ‘reinvention’ plans afoot

Could Carlos Sainz still sign for Mercedes?

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said the team wants to “reinvent” itself moving forward, a vision which Carlos Sainz does not fit into.

With seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton heading to Ferrari for F1 2025, it means that Mercedes are on the lookout for a new team-mate to George Russell. With Hamilton taking the Ferrari seat currently occupied by Carlos Sainz, it led to speculation that Mercedes could turn to Sainz as their Hamilton replacement.

Carlos Sainz praised but not part of Mercedes future

PlanetF1.com recently revealed that Sainz was, for now, out of the running for that 2025 Mercedes seat, with Wolff having told Sky Sports Deutschland that junior driver Kimi Antonelli “is our future”, a message he has passed on to Sainz.

Wolff doubled down on that stance when speaking to Sky F1, revealing that the Mercedes team has a plan to “reinvent ourselves a little bit”, with Antonelli the driver that plays a part in that blueprint.

“I think first of all, Carlos deserves a top seat. I mean, he’s done a fantastic job,” said Wolff.

“But for us, we’ve embarked on a route now to say, ‘You know what, we want to reinvent ourselves a little bit going forward’. And Kimi Antonelli definitely plays a part in that.

“We haven’t taken the decision yet for next year, but we didn’t want to have Carlos wait as well, because he needs to take the decisions for himself and that’s just fair. But he’s doing a super job.”

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Sainz’s options for F1 2025 now appear to be Williams and Sauber, to become Audi from 2026.

And Williams have made their desire to sign Sainz clear, team principal James Vowles publicly confirming him as their “number one target”.

“Number one target is Carlos,” Vowles told Sky F1.

“He’s a race-winning driver that last year, against all odds, beat Max [Verstappen] in Singapore with a brilliant drive and that’s not the first time.

“He’s intelligent in how he approaches things, logical, incredibly quick. What he did this year in Shanghai, it’s going to sound like a negative, it’s not, in qualifying he crashed and we’ve all been there to a certain extent, it’s an impressive athlete that can reset themselves, go back out and then beat your teammate [sic] in that condition.

“And I think that shows you just how strong he is as a driver. I think any team on the grid would be fortunate to have someone like Carlos alongside them.”

Sainz scored a remarkable third F1 career victory at the 2024 Australian Grand Prix upon his return from appendicitis surgery.

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