Ferrari's Carlos Sainz said he wanted to speed up talks with Formula One teams for a seat next season and hoped to resolve his future sooner than later.
The only driver to have beaten dominant Red Bull since 2022, with his most recent victory coming in Australia last month, Sainz is being replaced by seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton at the end of the season.
Sainz told reporters ahead of Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix that he was talking to various teams "because that's what my management team and myself should do when I don't have a job for next year yet.
"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," he added.
"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."
More than half the current grid is out of contract at the end of the year, with a potential vacancy at champions Red Bull alongside triple champion Max Verstappen and Mercedes looking for a replacement for Hamilton.
Sauber, who will become Audi in 2026, are another possibility.
Sainz won in Melbourne just two weeks after undergoing appendix surgery that forced him to miss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard said he was back to full fitness.
"I've been riding my bike this week, stayed in Australia for a week and started going back to the gym," he said.
"I'm still obviously not lifting heavy numbers like I used to do in the past, but at least I can get my training done and feeling back to 100%."
Sainz said Suzuka could be a challenging track for Ferrari, with the Italian team well off the pace there last year when the race was held in late September.
"It's time to see ... if we can be at least closer and enjoy a bit more this amazing track than what we enjoyed last year, because for me it's one of my favorite ones, if not my favorite," he said.
