Formula 1 News: Alpine now only 2025 cockpit left for Sainz Jr.

(GMM) The crisis-struck Alpine team has emerged as the clear front-runner to secure Carlos Sainz Jr.’s signature for the 2025 season.

The Spaniard, still yet to officially decide on his post-Ferrari destination, is believed to have ruled out Audi-owned Sauber – while Williams now looks set to ink a deal with former team driver Valtteri Bottas.

An amended clause in Dr Helmut Marko’s contract with Red Bull, meanwhile, is rumored to have untied Max Verstappen from the team advisor’s role – meaning the triple world champion is now all but certain to stay put for 2025.

That leaves Mercedes, where team boss Toto Wolff was only holding the seat potentially open while Verstappen might theoretically also be on the market until late in the game.

Wolff’s non-Verstappen preference to replace Lewis Hamilton is clearly the Mercedes boss’s own 17-year-old protégé Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who until recently showed signs of not being ready for F1 given his lackluster maiden season in Formula 2.

But Antonelli broke through for his first win at Silverstone recently, and he’s now followed it up with a feature race victory in Hungary.

“We have a strong boy who put in a great performance today and won in a dominant manner,” Wolff declared on Saturday. “That’s why we’re looking forward.

“He has to concentrate on Formula 1, that is the most important thing, but today was a real statement.”

Antonelli admitted his breakthrough wins are a “big relief”.

“Mentally, I have to admit that the pressure was getting bigger and bigger,” said the young Italian. “After a few mistakes on my part, it was quite difficult, but Silverstone and today were a big relief.

“It was a mental turning point for me. I have a different focus now.”

When asked if he’s ready for Formula 1 as early as 2025, Antonelli admitted: “Honestly, I don’t know. I’m still making some mistakes, I’m still learning.

“I don’t want to think about next year, because nothing is official. And I don’t know anything, to be honest. It would be great to be the next Italian in Formula 1, but we will see what happens for next year.”

For Sainz, that only leaves Alpine, whose new advisor Flavio Briatore made a late and concrete bid for the 29-year-old’s services only recently.

The Enstone based team, however, continues to be in turmoil, with an embarrassing strategy error in qualifying at the weekend then compounded by a woeful race.

“There’s nothing to take away from this weekend,” the departing Alpine driver Esteban Ocon told Canal Plus on Sunday. “No pace, no stability on the car, a lot of deterioration.

“We see that the others have brought parts and not us yet,” the Frenchman added. “And there were big problems in the last two races, whether in operations or in pure speed.

“I think we would have done better to just save the car rather than finish.”