Sainz's first steps
The career of Carlos Sainz in Formula 1 he started in 2015with the then Red Bull (now AlphaTauri) who decided to focus on him after the good results obtained in the preparatory categories. A team that, over the course of its history, has launched several young talents into F1, many of whom have continued their careers (with varying success) in Red Bull, the team that owns the Faenza company.
The first teammate
Left until 2017before joining Renault, McLaren and Ferrari, the Spaniard shared the garage with none other than Max Verstappen, a rising F1 star who arrived in the top open-wheel category while still a minor. Since then, the Dutchman has demonstrated all his potential over the years, so much so that he has won three consecutive world titles just a few months before the start of the 2024 championship.
'The Obstacle' by Helmut Marko
Yet, although Verstappen is inevitably considered the jewel of Red Bull, Sainz is still today one of the most admired drivers Helmut Marko, Advisor to Red Bull and above all Director of the Red Bull Junior Team. In recent years, the Austrian manager has become famous for his controversial decisions to quickly reject all the drivers whose performances did not live up to his expectations, both in AlphaTauri and in Red Bull, only rarely praising the qualities of some of them.
The background and the compliments
In this sense, Marko reserved unexpected compliments for Carlos Sainz, even going so far as to compare him with Verstappen: “Sainz is, without a doubt, a great driver – he declared in an interview reported by Brand – he was almost on par with Max in the Toro Rosso. The bad thing for him is that he was unlucky to have Verstappen as a teammate. The atmosphere between the two at Toro Rosso was quite toxic. The way the team was set up back then, I didn't see a way to keep him with us, so Carlos went to Renault, McLaren and then ended up at Ferrari. For a long time Carlos lived in his father's shadow. He was unfairly burdened with the image of being the spoiled son of a racing driver while, on the contrary, he had to constantly fight to get ahead. He was very fast in the minor categories. In his first F1 test at Silverstone, right from the start, he was slightly quicker in fast corners than Sebastian Vettelwhich was our reference at that moment. Sainz was almost at the same level as Verstappen… almost – he concluded – but when we had to choose between Max and Carlos, it was clear what we had to do”.
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