Carlos Sainz admits he only has a “small” chance of securing the kind of front-running seat he would ideally like for F1 2025  – but made clear he would drop down the grid rather than taking a year out of F1 to wait for a better opportunity.
“My future is still being discussed and obviously analysed very carefully," he said at the Belgian GP.
“There are changes to a lot of teams that I’m looking at for next year pretty much every week.
“So there are changes, evolution on the team market as much as there is on the driver market. I’m just going to keep giving myself time to analyse all these things that keep changing without giving you too many clues.”
Sainz is thought to have offers from the teams which currently occupy the final three positions in the Constructors' Championship - Alpine, Williams and Sauber - and appears to only be outside contender for the Mercedes seat being vacated at the end of the year by Lewis Hamilton, the driver who has taken his position at Ferrari.
"My best option for next year would be a championship-winning car which has been my No 1 priority since these talks about my future have happened," said Sainz. 
"The likelihood of that we all know is small but that’s always been my target. If that doesn’t happen, I'll choose what is best for my near future for sure."
And he made absolutely clear that he would drop down the grid if he needed to continue his career into 2025.
Asked whether he could consider a sabbatical, Sainz fired back: "Absolutely no. A sabbatical is not even in my head. 
"I’m happy in Formula 1, love Formula 1 and I would rather go down to a midfield team and use my skill, in the peak of my career, to try and help a midfield team to find the right way than taking a year off or being third driver for anyone, you know. 
"I’m competitive and I know I can still bring to a midfield team that side of me."