Will Sainz now join Williams or Sauber after Red Bull door shuts?

Formula 1's driver market for the 2025 continues to fascinate with nine of next season's 20 seats still unfilled almost halfway through this year.While Sergio Perez - and a coveted Red Bull seat - are now off the market, Carlos Sainz remains very much on it four months after the shock news that he had lost his Ferrari seat for 2025 to Lewis Hamilton.The same is true of Esteban Ocon, whose end-of-season exit from Alpine was confirmed on Monday. Speaking before Perez's expected Red Bull two-year renewal was confirmed, David Croft and Simon Lazenby joined the Sky Sports F1 podcast before flying to this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix to assess the latest situations for Sainz and Ocon... Spotify This content is provided by Spotify, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spotify cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spotify cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spotify cookies for this session only. Enable Cookies Allow Cookies Once Sainz's choice: Will it now be Williams over Sauber/Audi?Unless Max Verstappen causes the second major driver market shock of the year and decides to leave Red Bull before the expiry of his contract in 2028, then it is Sainz who remains the central cog to the rest of the 2025 driver market. Trending With any Mercedes move to replace Hamilton understood to be off the table, and Red Bull renewing Perez's deal until 2026, the decision for three-time race winner Sainz appears to have come down to a direct choice between joining long-time pursuers Sauber/Audi or Williams, whose serious interest in the Spaniard emerged over the Monaco GP weekend. David Croft: "[Williams team principal] James Vowles is a very, very inspiring person. He has a strategy, he knows that nothing is going to happen overnight, and he is selling 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's got a decision, 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 put your faith in a brand-new project [Audi] that you know is an entity that has been successful in world motorsport on many occasions in the past but not in Formula 1? Or do you put your faith in a rather more known entity [Williams] that has been successful in F1 but has been in very much lean times over the last few years?"Personally, hand on heart, I think he'll go to Williams."I think that is where Carlos Sainz is heading because he can see what is in front of him with Williams. He probably can't see the Audi vision at the moment because there is not much to tell. They haven't taken over at Sauber, they are building power units but that's it. If James Vowles gets him, then fair play to him...because that's a major coup and a brilliant driver line-up that can power that team for many years to come." 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 don't think he's in the running for so it is a direct [decision] between Sauber/Audi and Williams. The case for Williams at the moment is performance because just look at how Sauber are performing on track. [Sauber] have got a long way to go, but Williams is quite a strong case at the moment for him." F1 2025 field Team Driver Driver Red Bull Max Verstappen Sergio Perez Ferrari Lewis Hamilton Charles Leclerc McLaren Lando Norris Oscar Piastri Mercedes George Russell ??? Aston Martin Fernando Alonso Lance Stroll RB ??? ??? Haas ??? ??? Williams Alex Albon ??? Alpine ??? ??? Sauber Nico Hulkenberg ??? What now for Ocon after Alpine?Aged 27 and with 141 grands prix under his belt, including a win at the 2021 Hungarian GP, Ocon is theoretically entering the prime of his career and, Monaco aside, has outperformed Pierre Gasly in a difficult Alpine car so far this season.However, the Frenchman's options to continue in F1 seem to be limited to the area of the grid where struggling Alpine are currently racing. Ocon appears to be a 'Plan B' for Sauber/Audi should they not l