Red Bull is considering signing Carlos Sainz, which would reunite him with former F1 team-mate Max Verstappen.
Due to his impressive performance at the beginning of the season, there is a high demand for The Spaniard. Despite having to miss out on the Jeddah race due to appendicitis after finishing on the podium in Bahrain, he made an astonishing recovery and triumphantly won first place at the Australian Grand Prix just two weeks after surgery.
Sainz’s contract is set to expire at the end of the year and he will undoubtedly be on a new team. Ferrari has already chosen Lewis Hamilton as his replacement, allowing other high-profile teams to acquire Sainz for no cost if they so desire.
It has been suggested that Red Bull may be considering Carlos Sainz as a potential replacement for Sergio Perez, with team boss Christian Horner acknowledging the prospect. According to former F1 engineer Ernest Knoors, this would be a strategic decision by Horner in response to internal tensions between himself, Jos Verstappen and Helmut Marko.
According to Motorsport.com, the Dutchman suggested that in case Christian perceives Max Verstappen, Jos Verstappen and Helmut Marko as imposing a certain level of stress on him, he could consider Carlos Sainz as a potential champion.
It is his belief that this would be the case, which could potentially intensify Max’s stress levels. It appears as though Max may not be enthusiastic about partnering with Carlos Sainz on the team. There seems to be a significant element of politics at play in this situation and Christian exhibits considerable political acumen.”
The engineer who previously worked with Ferrari, BMW and Jordan proposed that Horner might consider using Sainz as leverage. The engineer elaborated that if Max were to express his desire for another team, Carlos Sainz could be a valuable replacement option given his strong driving skills. It was pointed out additionally that there may be an opportunity to exert pressure on Max during this politically-sensitive season.
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For several years, Verstappen and Sainz have been competitors on the racetrack. However, at one point in time they were teammates while working for Red Bull’s subsidiary team known as Toro Rosso. Unfortunately, during their brief stint together tensions grew between them resulting in a fracture of their relationship which ultimately led to Sainz leaving the young driver program under Marko’s guidance.
Sainz’s Austrian acquaintance asserted that he had been overshadowed by his father, a two-time World Rally Champion. This unjustly labeled him as an entitled racer riding on the coattails of his famous parent. However, in reality Carlos relentlessly battled for every opportunity to advance himself.
Max as a teammate turned out to be unfortunate for him; their relationship at Toro Rosso was filled with toxicity. Given the setup we had back then, it was impossible to retain him on our team, which led to his departure and subsequent stints with Renault, McLaren,and Ferrari.