Red Bull’s plan to promote Carlos Sainz into the seat vacated by Daniel Ricciardo for 2019 could be facing a big hurdle, Max Verstappen.
The Spaniard has always been considered to be first in line for a switch to Milton Keynes when the opportunity arose, however, it is also well-known that the Dutchman and the Spaniard have history from their time together at Toro Rosso.
It wasn’t until Verstappen switched to Red Bull part-way through 2016 that Sainz emerged from the shadow of the 20-year-old and started producing the performances which arguably made him too good for the junior team and attracted the interest of Renault, leading to the loan deal for this season.
Faced with the prospect of teaming up again though, according to Spanish newspaper Marca, Max is believed to be pulling his weight inside the team and potentially pushing for Pierre Gasly to get the nod over the 23-year-old.
That would appear to be true based on a tweet later sent by Sky Sports commentator and F1 veteran Martin Brundle who gave his full support to ‘Chili’.
“If Carlos Sainz doesn’t get a strong drive in F1 next year it will be a travesty, annoy me intensely, and reflect badly on F1,” he claimed.
Potentially ready to bring the second generation driver in from the cold is McLaren with speculation continuing to link him to Woking and forming an all-Spanish line-up with hero and mentor Fernando Alonso.
While former racer Pedro de la Rosa has warned against it, after his comments about losing out on Ricciardo, CEO Zak Brown was also asked about the possibility.
“We think Carlos is an excellent race driver,” he said.
“Of course Carlos is potentially on the market, we don’t know his exact situation at Renault and Red Bull, but he’s certainly someone that as you go down the shortlist of drivers you’d consider putting in a race car.
“If he was free, and if we had a seat, he would certainly be high up on the consideration set.”