F1 driver market: Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz’s 2025 choices mentioned on Sky Sports activities F1 podcast | F1 Information

Formulation 1’s driver marketplace for the 2025 continues to fascinate with 9 of subsequent season’s 20 seats nonetheless unfilled virtually midway by this yr.

Whereas Sergio Perez – and a coveted Crimson Bull seat – at the moment are off the market, Carlos Sainz stays very a lot on it 4 months after the shock information that he had misplaced his Ferrari seat for 2025 to Lewis Hamilton.

The identical is true of Esteban Ocon, whose end-of-season exit from Alpine was confirmed on Monday.

Talking earlier than Perez’s anticipated Crimson Bull two-year renewal was confirmed, David Croft and Simon Lazenby joined the Sky Sports activities F1 podcast earlier than flying to this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix to evaluate the most recent conditions for Sainz and Ocon…

Sainz’s alternative: Will it now be Williams over Sauber/Audi?

Except Max Verstappen causes the second main driver market shock of the yr and decides to depart Crimson Bull earlier than the expiry of his contract in 2028, then it’s Sainz who stays the central cog to the remainder of the 2025 driver market.

With any Mercedes transfer to switch Hamilton understood to be off the desk, and Crimson Bull renewing Perez’s deal till 2026, the choice for three-time race winner Sainz seems to have come all the way down to a direct alternative between becoming a member of long-time pursuers Sauber/Audi or Williams, whose critical curiosity within the Spaniard emerged over the Monaco GP weekend.

David Croft: “[Williams team principal] James Vowles is a really, very inspiring particular person. He has a technique, he is aware of that nothing goes to occur in a single day, and he’s promoting a dream.

“He sold a dream to Alex Albon, who also has a lot of faith in the Mercedes power unit for 2026, and can he get Sainz? Well, the answer to that is ‘yes, he can’.

“I’ve spoken to the Sainz camp on this one – he is obtained a call, Audi or Williams.

“There is no deadline from Audi. That had been reported but it’s not true, he didn’t have to make his mind up by the end of May. It’s not about money. It’s about where Carlos sees the vision for the future.

“So do you set your religion in a brand-new challenge [Audi] that you recognize is an entity that has been profitable in world motorsport on many events prior to now however not in Formulation 1? Or do you set your religion in a reasonably extra recognized entity [Williams] that has been profitable in F1 however has been in very a lot lean occasions over the previous couple of years?

“Personally, hand on heart, I think he’ll go to Williams.

“I feel that’s the place Carlos Sainz is heading as a result of he can see what’s in entrance of him with Williams. He in all probability cannot see the Audi imaginative and prescient in the mean time as a result of there may be not a lot to inform. They have not taken over at Sauber, they’re constructing energy items however that is it. If James Vowles will get him, then truthful play to him…as a result of that is a significant coup and an excellent driver line-up that may energy that staff for a few years to return.”

Simon Lazenby: “I think Sainz was Christian Horner’s man a little bit within this and if he was going to come back [at Red Bull] it was going to be Horner convincing him to do so. But I think the biggest problem there was back from the Toro Rossos and it’s the fathers not particularly seeing eye to eye, and that might have proved too much of a tricky thing for them to have to handle.

“Mercedes I do not assume he is within the working for therefore it’s a direct [decision] between Sauber/Audi and Williams. The case for Williams in the mean time is efficiency as a result of simply have a look at how Sauber are acting on monitor. [Sauber] have gotten a protracted approach to go, however Williams is kind of a robust case in the mean time for him.”

What now for Ocon after Alpine?

Aged 27 and with 141 grands prix below his belt, together with a win on the 2021 Hungarian GP, Ocon is theoretically coming into the prime of his profession and, Monaco apart, has outperformed Pierre Gasly in a troublesome Alpine automotive to date this season.

Nevertheless, the Frenchman’s choices to proceed in F1 appear to be restricted to the world of the grid the place struggling Alpine are presently racing. Ocon seems to be a ‘Plan B’ for Sauber/Audi ought to they not land Sainz, whereas he has additionally been linked with a seat at Haas.

Croft: “I got the distinct impression that Esteban wasn’t top of the shopping list for Alpine for next year and beyond [in paddock discussions on the Thursday of the Monaco GP].

“There have been plenty of driver’s names being talked about and Esteban wasn’t significantly excessive up on that. I am not saying they wished to eliminate him at that stage, however he wasn’t uppermost of their ideas.

“Then we went to the press conference and Esteban was extolling the virtues of driving in Le Mans and competing in WEC [World Endurance Championship] and that often smacks of a driver who is keeping his options open for his forthcoming career.

“Then in fact we had the race the place, as soon as once more, he had a coming collectively and, as soon as once more, it was together with his team-mate, and I feel which may have hastened the choice.

“Bruno Famin, the team principal, was rightly non-pleased with what happened. Whether his mind was made up before I’m not sure, I think it was definitely made up afterwards, and that transpired with the news that we had.

“Esteban Ocon is a extremely really pretty human being, I’ve obtained plenty of time for him, however he does have these moments together with his team-mates, and it does not essentially do his CV any favours.

“He has been talking to other teams, so it’s not that we are definitely going to lose Ocon from Formula 1. I hope we don’t; there is potential out there for him.

“He definitely is on the shortlist for Haas together with quite a lot of different drivers as properly. However he is speaking up different collection, and that did not come as a lot of a shock as properly within the [Monaco] press convention.”

Who could replace Ocon at Alpine?

The Enstone outfit are one of three teams with neither of their seats yet filled for 2025, although Gasly is expected to stay on.

Renault-owned Alpine represent one of only four current teams with ‘works’ status – an engine manufacturer’s priority outfit – but are mired in a period of upheaval on and off track. They currently sit ninth in the constructors’ standings with only two points on the board.

Lazenby: “Proper now, issues aren’t very rosy within the Alpine backyard, so what are they taking a look at?

“Are they going to have the ability to entice the highest echelons on the grid? I feel the reply within the medium time period relies on their dedication going ahead and now we have seen this earlier than the place they’ve had a 4 or a five-year plan.

“Everyone’s got a four or five-year plan. Alpine’s, or Renault’s as it was, never seems to materialise so it depends what they put in place going forward and how that Renault engine is looking from 2026 onwards.

“Finally, they’re a works staff and drivers wish to put themselves ready the place they’re driving for a works staff. However to counter that argument, have a look at what’s occurring with Mercedes this yr whereby one in every of their clients [McLaren] is nearly double the factors forward of them

“So they’ve got to get their house in order.”

Croft: “Jack Doohan is a very lively candidate and would be a very good candidate.

“Pierre Gasly is still there and I’m sure would like a contract to stay in Formula 1 for next year, and that might be his best option.

“Valtteri Bottas is perhaps on the scene as properly, however I feel he is unlikely to go to Alpine, he is taking a look at different locations.”

Zhou Guanyu is another linked with the team with the Chinese driver himself likely seeking pastures new for next year with Sauber having already signed Nico Hulkenberg and looking strongly at Sainz for their second seat.

Could Zhou, China’s first F1 driver, offer Alpine a different solution?

Croft: “They want funding and, whereas they’re a works staff, I do not assume they obtain related ranges of funding as, say, Crimson Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes do.

“There is speculation that Zhou Guanyu and his backers might be willing to invest. Zhou is a former Renault academy driver, so it would be going back to the stable that got him into F1 in the first place.

“Say Zhou and his backers were prepared to take a 30 per cent stake in Alpine, invest money into the facilities at Enstone and future staff – of which they have lost a lot of top-end staff in the past 12 months – then that might be the zenith that the team needs and the turnaround that they are looking for.

“However what is going on on with the engine for 2026: has Viry-Chatillon give you a extremely good energy unit? We do not know.

“So it’s a two-fold thing. Renault need to invest in the power unit, someone needs to invest in Enstone, and then you’ve got a works team that people want to start driving for. I don’t think a driver is necessary going to make all the difference at Enstone, not by a long shot.”

Formulation 1 leaves Europe for the ultimate time earlier than the summer time break because the championship strikes on to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix. Watch each session on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve this weekend reside on Sky Sports activities F1, with Sunday’s race at 7pm. Stream each F1 race and extra with a NOW Sports activities Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime