by VALERIO BARRETTA
Sainz, doors closed in Mercedes too
Carlos Sainz he expected a completely different driver market. Even taking into account a separation from Ferrari, which nevertheless arrived suddenly, 2025 offered many opportunities to remain at the top. Opportunities which, however, have reduced over the weeks: Fernando Alonso has renewed with Aston Martin, Sergio Perez has done the same with Red Bull, while the conflict between Max Verstappen and the Milton Keynes team itself should not lead to a divorce next year.
The Spaniard was left with the Mercedes, which until recently was undoubtedly his plan A. The problem is that they don’t want Sainz in Brackley either: the offer of an annual contract only, and therefore without a medium-long term vision, had made him understand. That vision that team principal Toto Wolff would give to Verstappen or, if the Dutchman’s court led nowhere, to Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Wolff’s words
Wolff himself closed the doors to Sainz for 2025: “We just want to focus on Kimi. This is our future, young drivers. We want to engage with young people and this is what we told Carlos”, this is the comment to Sky Deutschland.
The Mercedes tests
Antonelli has already completed some tests with Mercedes at Silverstone and Montmeló together with Mick Schumacher. The Bolognese impressed Wolff and the entire Mercedes team, but recently the team denied the rumors according to which the 2006 class would have gone even faster than George Russell.
