Lewis Hamilton’s arrival in Italy and subsequent debut with the Ferrari SF-23 at Fiorano marked the beginning of a new era for Scuderia Ferrari. A chapter in which Carlos Sainz will not be present, as the departing driver prepares to start his first season with Williams.
In a video published on his YouTube channel, renowned Formula 1 journalist Peter Windsor recalled the long period during which the Spaniard was linked to Red Bull and seemed to have an opportunity to become the teammate of four-time world champion Max Verstappen.
Peter Windsor: “Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen would have been uncomfortably close”
According to Windsor, this scenario was ultimately dismissed by the Milton Keynes-based team because Carlos was considered too difficult a driver for the Austrian team to manage: “I’ve asked myself many times over the winter why Red Bull didn’t make the most obvious move by replacing Sergio Perez with Carlos Sainz. I think it all goes back to the year when Carlos and Max were teammates at Toro Rosso.”
“At the time, Carlos was faster than Max in qualifying about 20% of the time. And when he wasn’t, he was still able to keep up and stay very close, within a tenth or two. They would have been uncomfortably close again. I also think something happened during that period at Toro Rosso. Otherwise, there’s no reason why Verstappen wouldn’t have wanted Carlos in the other car. They must have had a falling out or something like that,” concluded the Brit, as reported by ‘GpBlog.com’.
Shortly before being announced as a Williams driver, Carlos Sainz denied this theory, stating that his relationship with Max was never an obstacle. When they were together at Toro Rosso, they both had to outperform each other to make the leap and earn a chance to drive for Red Bull. According to the Spaniard, things might have played out differently now, but that scenario will remain a tale of pure fantasy for all of us.
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