Sainz Jr. takes time over F1 future as Ferrari teammate Leclerc chases elusive Monaco podium

MONACO (AP) — With Carlos Sainz Jr. still looking for a new team for next year, his stock could rise even more with a strong performance for Ferrari at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

He does not appear short of options, with Sauber, Red Bull and Williams potential destinations when he makes way for seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari.

“You have the rumors and everything but don’t worry, I’m not going to let slip anything,” Sainz said at the Monaco GP. “I’m just going to put all the options on the table and take the right decision.”

Sauber has reportedly already made him a big offer and Red Bull has yet to confirm whether Sergio Perez will stay next year. Williams could potentially pair Sainz with Alex Albon, who recently signed a multiyear deal under ambitious team principal James Vowles.

Sainz is in demand and keen not to rush things.

“I haven’t made my mind up yet and I don’t know where I’m going to be racing next year. I also haven’t set any deadlines," the Spanish driver said. “With such an important decision at this stage of my career, I want to have all the other cards on the table to take the right one."

He turns 30 in September, so this could be the last big move.

“The next project is a project that I really want to make work. So I’m going to give myself as much time as I need,” he said. “(But) I can just tell you that, once I have made my mind up, everything will happen very quickly. It’s all about putting everything together that I feel like I need on my next new contract.”

It was somewhat surprising to F1 observers when Sainz was not retained by Ferrari, although the fact that Hamilton suddenly became available undoubtedly played a significant part.

Sainz was the only driver outside of ultra-dominant Red Bull to win a race last season, and he is one of only two drivers to deny Red Bull star Max Verstappen this year. The other is McLaren's Lando Norris, who won the Miami GP.

Earlier this year, Sainz's teammate Charles Leclerc was given a multiyear contract by Ferrari, even though he has not won a race since July 2022.

HOME STRUGGLES

Monaco is Leclerc's home race, and he grew up in a flat overlooking the start-finish line and watched the F1 cars whizz by.

But he has a dismal record in Monaco and has never finished on the podium, amid some unlucky circumstances.

Leclerc led from pole position in 2022 when his team wrongly called him in for a tire change on Lap 22, a decision he called “a freaking disaster.”

It was even worse for Leclerc in 2021 when he pulled out before the race with a gearbox problem after taking pole.

“The finality (outcome) of the weekend hasn’t ever been the one I wanted,” Leclerc said. “I hope that this weekend will be the good one.”

Action begins Friday with two practice sessions.

ON A ROLL

Norris has been on the podium in four of the past five races and his sterling form is the talk of the paddock. Even three-time F1 champion Verstappen sounds impressed.

Norris is eyeing a second win of the season at resurgent McLaren, where the 24-year old British driver forms a dynamic duo with 23-year-old Australian Oscar Piastri.

“We’re focused, we’re in good spirits. Of course, the motivation and the energy is very high,” Norris said. "If we keep it up, there’s always a chance.”

Especially as McLaren has looked good in qualifying, with Norris and Piastri both pushing Verstappen hard at last weekend's Emilia Romagna GP. Norris drove brilliantly to finish second and within one second of Verstappen.

“We have a car that’s competitive and up there, fighting with Red Bull and Ferrari," Norris said. “Monaco is always one (race) that every driver wants to win, just because of the history of this place, how unique and how prestigious it all is.”

REMEMBERING SENNA

McLaren is racing at Monaco in a bespoke one-off livery in the yellow, green and blue colours of Ayrton Senna’s race helmet, 30 years after the Brazilian F1 great’s death.

Monaco was a huge part of Senna's career, and he was known as “The King of Monaco” after winning five straight times on the tiny street circuit with McLaren from 1989-93.

Senna was Hamilton's F1 idol growing up, and he praised McLaren's decision to race in Senna's helmet colors.

“They had him there for a long, long time and I think it’s kind of cool,” Hamilton said.

Senna won his three world titles and 35 of his 41 races with McLaren, before joining Williams.

Last week, F1 drivers joined a memorial run around the Imola track where Senna was killed in ’94.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain steers his car during the first free practice ahead of the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix at the Monaco racetrack, in Monaco, Friday, May 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain is reflected in a fireman's helmet as he steers his car during the first free practice ahead of the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix at the Monaco racetrack, in Monaco, Friday, May 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain steers his car during the first free practice ahead of the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix at the Monaco racetrack, in Monaco, Friday, May 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands arrives in the paddock ahead of the first free practice at the Monaco racetrack, in Monaco, Friday, May 24, 2024. The Formula one race will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain stands on a boat as he arrives in the paddock ahead of the first free practice at the Monaco racetrack, in Monaco, Friday, May 24, 2024. The Formula one race will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz of Spain steers his car during the first free practice ahead of the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix at the Monaco racetrack, in Monaco, Friday, May 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz of Spain bikes in the paddock ahead of the first free practice at the Monaco racetrack, in Monaco, Friday, May 24, 2024. The Formula one race will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. (AP) — Lewis Pugh has followed an unspoken rule during his career as one of the world’s most daring endurance swimmers: Don’t talk about sharks. But he plans to break that this week on a swim around Martha’s Vineyard, where “ Jaws” was filmed 50 years ago.

The British-South African was the first person to complete a long-distance swim in every ocean of the world — and has taken on extreme conditions everywhere from Mount Everest to the Arctic.

“On this swim, it’s very different: We’re just talking about sharks all the time,” joked Pugh, who will, as usual, wear no wetsuit for the 62-mile (100-kilometer) swim.

For his swim around Martha’s Vineyard in 47-degree (8-degree Celsius) water he will wear just trunks, a cap and goggles.

Pugh, 55, is undertaking the challenge because he wants to change public perception around the now at-risk animals — which he said were maligned by the blockbuster film as “villains, as cold-blooded killers.” He will urge for more protection for sharks.

“We need to protect life in our oceans — all our futures rely on it,” he said on Thursday before starting out from a beach in front of the Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse and swimming an initial 3.9 miles (6.2 kilometers) for nearly three hours. On Friday, he'll get in the water and swim again — and again, for an estimated 12 days, or however long it takes him to complete the swim. He'll spend the rest of his time on the Vineyard educating the public about sharks.

Later Thursday, he crawled out of the water, where curious seals bobbed in the waves, and onto a boat to warm up and refuel.

He began his endeavor just after the New England Aquarium confirmed the first white shark sighting of the season, earlier this week off the coast of Nantucket.

“It’s going to test me not only physically, but also mentally,” he said, while scoping out wind conditions by the starting line earlier this week. “I mean every single day I’m going to be speaking about sharks, sharks, sharks, sharks. Then, ultimately, I’ve got to get in the water afterwards and do the swim. I suppose you can imagine what I’ll be thinking about.”

Pugh said the swim will be among the most difficult he’s undertaken, which says a lot for someone who has swum near glaciers and volcanoes, and among hippos, crocodiles and polar bears. No one has ever swum around the island of Martha's Vineyard before.

But Pugh, who often swims to raise awareness for environmental causes — and has been named the United Nations Patron of the Oceans for several years — said no swim is without risk and that drastic measures are needed to get his message across: Around 274,000 sharks are killed globally each day — a rate of 100 million every year, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

“It was a film about sharks attacking humans and for 50 years, we have been attacking sharks,” he said of “Jaws.” “It’s completely unsustainable. It’s madness. We need to respect them.”

He emphasizes that the swim is not something nonprofessionals should attempt. He’s accompanied by safety personnel in a boat and kayak and uses a “Shark Shield” device that deters sharks using an electric field without harming them.

Pugh remembers feeling fear as a 16-year-old watching “Jaws” for the first time. Over decades of study and research, awe and respect have replaced his fear, as he realized the role they play in maintaining Earth’s increasingly fragile ecosystems.

“I’m more terrified of a world without sharks, or without predators,” he said.

“Jaws” is credited for creating Hollywood’s blockbuster culture when it was released in summer 1975, becoming the highest grossing film up until that time and earning three Academy Awards. It would impact how many viewed the ocean for decades to come.

Both director Steven Spielberg and author Peter Benchley have expressed regret over the impact of the film on viewers’ perception of sharks. Both have since contributed to conservation efforts for animals, which have seen populations depleted due to factors like overfishing and climate change.

Discovery Channel and the National Geographic Channel each year release programming about sharks to educate the public about the predator.

Greg Skomal, marine fisheries biologist at Martha’s Vineyard Fisheries within the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, said many people tell him they still won't swim in the ocean because of the sheer terror caused by the film.

“I tend to hear the expression that, ‘I haven’t gone in the water since ‘Jaws’ came out,’” he said.

But Skomal, who published a book challenging the film's inaccuracies, said “Jaws” also inspired many people — including him — to study marine biology, leading to increased research, acceptance and respect for the creatures.

If “Jaws” were made today, he doesn't think it'd have the same effect. But in the 1970s, “it was just perfect in terms of generating this level of fear to a public that was largely uneducated about sharks, because we were uneducated. Scientists didn’t know a lot about sharks.”

Skomal said the biggest threat contributing to the decline of the shark population now is commercial fishing, which exploded in the late 1970s and is today driven by high demand for fins and meat used in food dishes, as well as the use of skin to make leather and oil and cartilage for cosmetics.

“I think we’ve really moved away from this feeling, or the old adage that, ‘The only good shark is a dead shark,’” he said. “We’re definitely morphing from fear to fascination, or perhaps a combination of both.”

See an AP photo gallery from around Martha's Vineyard and the start of Pugh's swim here.

An app is used to monitor endurance swimmer Louis Pugh's temperature while he swims in 47 degree F water, Thursday, May 15, 2025, off Edgartown, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Endurance swimmer Louis Pugh swims off the coast pf Edgartown, Mass., Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Endurance swimmer Louis Pugh warms up on the ride back to shore after completing the first leg of his swim around Martha's Vineyard, Thursday, May 15, 2025, off Edgartown, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Endurance swimmer Louis Pugh swims near the Edgartown Harbor Light, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Edgartown, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A woman views the sunset at Menemsha Beach, Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in Chilmark, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A man navigates the wake behind the Martha's Vineyard Ferry, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Vineyard Haven, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A visitor arrives at a shop selling Jaws-related souvenirs, Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in Edgartown, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A shopper walks past items featuring the Jaws movie at Neptune's Sea Chest gift shop, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Vineyard Haven, Mass., on Martha's Vineyard Island. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh gestures to where he will begin his swim around Martha's Vineyard island, which is expected to take 12 days, near the Edgartown Lighthouse, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Edgartown, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A family walks to the span of the American Legion Memorial Bridge, also known as the "Jaws Bridge", while spending the day fishing, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Edgartown, Mass., on Martha's Vineyard Island. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)