Red Bull’s team principal, Christian Horner, hasn’t dismissed the possibility of bringing Carlos Sainz onboard as Max Verstappen’s teammate for the 2025 season.
Sainz, who will be available next season following his replacement by the current Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, has seen his value increase after clinching victory at the Australian Grand Prix. This win comes notably after he underwent an appendectomy just two weeks prior.
The Spaniard’s impressive outings place him in contention for the second Red Bull seat next season, alongside Verstappen’s present teammate Sergio Perez and the Red Bull pair Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, despite his departure from the team’s roster with four races left in the 2017 season.
The 29-year-old’s prior interactions with Verstappen were instrumental in his decision to leave Red Bull’s driving squad for Renault in 2018, having been a three-time grand prix winner by now.
Red Bull motorsport advisor, Helmut Marko, highlighted in an interview that the relationship between Sainz and Verstappen had deteriorated during their time as teammates at Toro Rosso (currently RB) in 2015.
When asked about the possibility of Sainz making a comeback, in an interaction with media outlets including RacingNews365, Horner acknowledged:
“Based on a performance like that, you couldn’t rule any possibility out. We just want to take our time. Checo was compromised [on Sunday] but has had a great start to the season, we are not in any desperate rush,” he said.
“Carlos is the only driver who has beaten Red Bull [since the 2022 British Grand Prix] so he appears to be our nemesis.”
