Carlos Sainz is firmly under consideration to partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull, according to team principal Christian Horner. Though without a contract for 2025, Sainz is an attractive prospect for several teams across the field. The question is which option will materialise for the Ferrari driver in the coming months.
After the opening day of Free Practice in Australia, all eyes were on Charles Leclerc to upset Max Verstappen’s winning streak. The 26-year-old was topping the timing sheets, both in qualifying and race trim.
However, it was his teammate Carlos Sainz who qualified on the front row. Only a few laps into the race, Sainz took the race lead before proceeding to dominate the Australian GP.
Of the Spaniard’s three victories for the Scuderia, today was perhaps the most convincing in terms of performance. Although last year’s Singapore victory was a defensive masterclass, today, it can be said the 29-year-old was one step ahead of everyone else.
With Sergio Perez failing to finish on the podium in the RB20, questions will inevitably begin emerging about his future. Today’s result is early evidence that Red Bull will not dominate in 2023 as they did last season.
CARLOS SAINZ ON RED BULL’S SHORTLIST
When speaking to the media, Red Bull’s Christian Horner explained that all options – including Sainz – will be evaluated.
The Red Bull team principal was initially asked about Tsunoda and Ricciardo’s chances of earning a promotion. However, he made sure to emphasise that drivers outside the Red Bull camp are being looked at:
“We want to field the best pairing that we can, and sometimes you’ve got to look outside the pool.
“You’ve had a very fast unemployed driver [Sainz] win today’s race, so the market is reasonably fluid.”
Of course, Red Bull has two drivers in their second team (Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo) who are theoretically also up for consideration.
However, it cannot be said the Austrian outfit has given many concrete indications that Tsunoda – despite his consistent improvements – is seen as a future teammate for Verstappen.
Though this could change, Horner’s comments indicate that Red Bull will look beyond its academy for 2025.
If this is the case, Carlos Sainz is obviously a strong candidate. It would be somewhat poetic for the 3-time race winner to finally compete for Red Bull. The lack of opportunity at Red Bull ultimately triggered his move to Renault in 2017.
As we have seen already this season, Formula 1 is capable of offering many surprises on and off track.
