The 2005 Spanish GP was the first time young Carlos Sainz met his racing idol, Fernando Alonso. Just like Sebastian Vettel looked up to Michael Schumacher, Carlos Sainz looked up to Alonso- something about that national connection perhaps. And now Sainz is living the dream of racing alongside his idol. But in a shocking turn of events, Fernando Alonso almost took the standing seat offer that Carlos Sainz currently has, after Ferrari sacked him. 

Fernando Alonso recently announced that he has re-signed with Aston Martin and will end his career at the Silverstone-based team. The Spaniard suggested that it is the longest contract that he’s ever signed in his career. However, the Aston Martin driver also talked about there having been talks with other teams as well but invalidated them by calling them light talks. Red Bull and Mercedes were rumored to be in talks with the Spaniard.

Carlos Sainz, on the other hand, doesn’t have a seat for the 2025 season as of yet, after he was sacked by Ferrari in favor of Lewis Hamilton. But there have been reports suggesting the fact that Toto Wolff has offered Sainz a 2-year contract on a 1+1 basis, where the additional year will be based on certain criteria. Carlos Sainz is believed to be wanting a 2+1 year contract. And the disagreement on duration is said to be holding up the contract from being signed. 

But in an interesting turn of events, it is rumored that Toto Wolff offered the same 2-year contract to Fernando Alonso as well. According to Michael Schmidt, Fernando Alonso was given a deadline by Aston Martin to accept the contract. But Toto Wolff’s offer of 1+1 wasn’t attractive enough for Alonso, and he decided to stay with the Green Team. 

If the rumors of Carlos Sainz having the Mercedes offer are true, then the driver market might not be as silly as we expected. Max Verstappen would stay at Red Bull if Sainz signed with Mercedes. But if Max Verstappen goes to Mercedes, then it’ll be a fish market all over again. 

Toto Wolff aggressively pursuing Max Verstappen Despite Offering Carlos Sainz a Contract

It was reported that more than 90% of the people at Mercedes want Max Verstappen as their Marquee signing to replace Lewis Hamilton. Toto Wolff is even rumored to have offered Verstappen a salary higher than that of Lewis Hamilton, to speed up the signing process. And now, Tom Clarkson has come to explain how Wolff is even ready to accommodate Helmut Marko within the team if Verstappen wants to bring him in. 

Tom Clarkson said, “Now that Fernando Alonso is locked in at Aston Martin, Max is either going to stay at Red Bull or move to Mercedes. In Japan, I was told by several people that Toto Wolff is pursuing Max very strongly. He needs a signature signing because the last three years haven’t been going very well for the team, and it would be a real statement of intent. It was even mentioned to me that he said to Max, ‘Bring Helmut Marko with you if that’s what it requires.’”

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Where will Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz go? Will Verstappen stay at Red Bull? Will Carlos Sainz move to Ferrari?