The troubled Alpine team has now taken the lead in the race to sign Carlos Sainz for the 2025 season.

The Spanish driver, who has yet to confirm his next move after Ferrari, is understood to have dismissed the option of joining Sauber, owned by Audi, while Williams is expected to finalize a deal to bring back former driver Valtteri Bottas.

A recently modified section of Dr Helmut Marko's contract with Red Bull reportedly unties Max Verstappen from the deal, virtually guaranteeing that the triple world champion will remain with his current team through 2025.

As a result, Mercedes, whose team leader Toto Wolff had tentatively kept a spot open in case Verstappen became available, appears set to focus on another candidate.

Wolff seems to favor his 17-year-old protégé Andrea Kimi Antonelli, despite the young driver's initially unimpressive debut in Formula 2. However, Antonelli's recent victories at Silverstone and then in Hungary have put him firmly in the spotlight.

"We have a strong boy who put in a great performance today and won in a dominant manner," Wolff praised after Saturday's race. "That's why we're looking forward."

"He has to concentrate on Formula 1, that is the most important thing, but today was a real statement."

Antonelli himself acknowledged the significance of these victories as a "big relief."

"Mentally, I have to admit that the pressure was getting bigger and bigger," the young Italian shared. "After a few mistakes on my part, it was quite difficult, but Silverstone and today were a big relief. It was a mental turning point for me. I have a different focus now."

When considering his readiness for Formula 1 by 2025, Antonelli confessed, "Honestly, I don't know. I'm still making some mistakes, I'm still learning."

"I don't want to think about next year, because nothing is official. And I don't know anything, to be honest. It would be great to be the next Italian in Formula 1, but we will see what happens for next year."

With his other options dwindling, Sainz's potential move to Alpine, where new advisor Flavio Briatore recently made a strong but late offer, becomes more likely.

However, the Enstone-based team is facing continued challenges, as highlighted by a very poor showing at the weekend.

"There's nothing to take away from this weekend," Alpine's outgoing driver Esteban Ocon expressed his frustration to Canal Plus on Sunday.

"No pace, no stability on the car, a lot of deterioration. We see that the others have brought parts and not us yet," he continued. "And there were big problems in the last two races, whether in operations or in pure speed."

"I think we would have done better to just save the car rather than finish." body check tags ::