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via Reuters

Who are the two drivers that come to your mind when you hear the word Bromance? If it’s anything other than Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, then you have the wrong answer. The Car-Lando duo during the McLaren days was peak bromance, if we’ve ever seen it. However, the Spanish driver failed to celebrate the win with Norris as he partied his night away. And the reason behind the party was Sainz’s F1 Future with Audi. 

Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari move has left Carlos Sainz without a seat as the Scuderia sacked him in favor of the 7X champ. The Spaniard is reportedly in talks with multiple teams but hasn’t given anything away about where his heart lies. Audi reportedly made Sainz a huge offer a long time back, and hopefully, that deal is still on the table. But on the contrary, rumors suggest that the deadline for the Audi deal had passed. Regardless, the deadline could’ve been pushed on as Sainz made up his mind.

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Coming to Lando Norris’ Miami win, the Brit won in the most spectacular passion to take home his first victory and was convinced by Lewis Hamilton to reschedule his flights and party in Miami to celebrate the win. The bromance between Norris and Sainz is still strong, as was showcased at the Singapore GP last year, and there is no way the Brit didn’t invite Sainz to join him at Club E11EVEN. Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri were spotted partying with Norris but not Sainz.

That was because Sainz was busy having a meeting and dinner with Nico Hulkenberg. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d know that the German announced his move away from Haas and will join Sauber next year, who will become Audi in 2026. Seems like Sainz wanted to meet up with Hulkenberg and have some insights about the project, which will help him decide his future.

Pictures were uploaded by the Instagram account F1gossippofficial, where Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg were seen at the same restaurant getting pictures clicked with a fan. The name of the restaurant was Forte dei Marmi. The caption read, “Carlos Sainz and Nico Hülkenberg were at a restaurant in Miami, everything indicates that the photo was taken last night after the Grand Prix, Nico arrived at the paddock wearing the same look! Ps: was it a meeting of future Audi drivers?!”

However, according to an F1 pundit, Carlos Sainz did deny the Audi offer earlier when it was guaranteed to be on the table. Let’s see what that was all about.

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Antonio Lobato on Carlos Sainz’s Audi Contract: “Decided not to accept the Offer”

Carlos Sainz Sr talked about him having good relations with Audi after he won the Dakar with the German team and has revealed that he’s talked to his son Sainz Jr about signing with Audi, as whenever Audi has entered any motorsports, they enter with the vision to win. However, the Spaniard seems to have missed the deadline for Audi and believes to be looking for a better option, including the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes.

via Reuters

Antonio Lobato, on the social media platform X, wrote, “Regarding the driver market… Sauber/Audi is going to announce soon who will accompany Hulkenberg from 2025. I don’t know @Carlossainz55 because he decided not to accept the offer and missed the deadline he had to respond. Accepting it would have given him peace of mind, in addition to a good financial offer, but he preferred to take the risk to see if he finds a place in a more competitive team.”

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Written by

Pranay Bhagi

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Pranay is an F1 Content Analyst and writer at EssentiallySports who effortlessly blends his technical knowledge and passion for F1 in his writing. He has a knack for unique content research and specializes in trend-setting articles. Pranay’s coverage of the departure of Guenther Steiner from Haas received appreciation from readers.
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Edited by

Jacob Gijy