There are plenty of options elsewhere on the grid, with the likes of Red Bull and the new Audi team all in the hunt for a driver – but Sainz is a valuable commodity on this market and may not be around for long.
As a proven race winner, with ten seasons of experience, the ‘smooth operator’ is the perfect driver to become part of a longer-term project but would be equally suited to a team in ‘win now’ mode.
Rumours suggest that F1’s silly season is arriving much sooner than normal, with driver moves that would typically play out in the summer being brought forward a few months into the spring.
“I'm talking to a few [teams] because that's what my management team and myself should do when I don't have a job for next year yet,” said Sainz.
“So, we're talking to pretty much all of them. It's just a matter of obviously going more into detail and seeing the more realistic options and what are the best options for me and for my future, which I don't have any news for you or nothing to say here.
“The only thing I would say is that, obviously it's time now to speed up a bit everything and hopefully we can get it sorted sooner rather than later.”