Remember when Lewis Hamilton announced the Ferrari move? It didn’t take long before Toto Wolff made public statements to show that Mercedes still had a strong and united front. But when it comes to talking about signing Carlos Sainz or any offers made to him, Wolff’s been suggesting that the team is in no hurry. But now, there’s finally something substantial about the Sainz contract with Mercedes that Toto Wolff has talked about. 

What made him comment? It could be after Fernando Alonso announced his Aston Martin extension and Carlos Sainz was realistically left with two competitive options, like Mercedes or Red Bull. And while the offer from Audi/Stake is there, Sainz wouldn’t want to waste a year with a backmarker team. Now, there is a lot of chatter around the paddock as Helmut Marko also shared his opinion on considering Carlos Sainz, and now Toto Wolff has come out to suggest the same. 

A few days ago, some reports came out suggesting that Toto Wolff had offered Carlos Sainz a contract for the next. The contract was rumored to be a 2 [1+1]-year contract where Mercedes offered a dry single year with an option to extend, but only if certain criteria in the contract were met. Carlos Sainz, on the other hand, wants at least a 2-year contract with the option to extend for an additional year [2+1].

After the Chinese GP qualifying, Toto Wolff was asked about the driver situation at Mercedes and who would partner with George Russell in 2025. When asked about Carlos Sainz pairing up with Russell, Wolff said, “Carlos is doing a great job; there’s nothing to say about it. And [he] is someone we’re taking into account. But as I said, that won’t happen in the next few weeks.”

Toto Wolff has 3 drivers in his sight, and he needs to decide on who he will be signing. Max Verstappen would be a marquee signing and would make a statement after Hamilton’s departure. Carlos Sainz is the hottest in-form driver and will be a great option too. Kimi Antonelli tested with Mercedes recently, and if he’s anywhere near as good as Verstappen is, then why not sign the future prospect? 

Kimi Antonelli’s first F1 test with Mercedes

A couple of weeks ago, Toto Wolff revealed that Kimi Antonelli would be testing with Mercedes in the 2021 Competitor W12 at the Austrian GP. While the test was supposed to last two days, it was cut short because of snowfall on one of the days. Antonelli covered close to 500 km during the test and will test with Mercedes again, but this time in the 2022 car. 

Kimi Antonelli, while talking about the test, said, “It’s been an incredible experience, it was really great to feel the power and downforce. I loved every second of it. It was really good fun and I want to thank the team for all their hard work. We did some sim work and ran through some important things ahead of the day. That was really useful because once I was out on track, I knew what the team was telling me on the radio.”

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