Counter-order from Olympus: Carlos Sainz has another chance to lead Red Bull next year. The Spaniard is now very close to the top team and this is already causing a tsunami of gigantic proportions. But let’s go step by step.
Point number one: Sainz (and his entourage) have never hidden their aim for Red Bull, so much so as to motivate more than one raised eyebrow at Audi, where they were counting on intriguing him with the idea of racing for them in 2026.
But Sainz is Sainz. And above all his magic circle (Carlos senior first and foremost) has not digested well the sacking received from Ferrari to make room for Hamilton, and since last February has been hyperactive in the search for possible top solutions.
But what would Red Bull do with Carlos? A lot. The Spaniard would certainly be better than Perez, who has been in decline since the start of the season, despite having received a contract confirmation until 2026. But with the points that Perez brings home, and with a car that is not the steamroller of 2022-23, the can team is far from certain of winning the constructors’ championship, and with it the huge cheque that F1 guarantees to whoever takes home the title.
And so far so good: a Verstappen-Sainz pairing is unquestionably stronger than the current one.
But now the scenario is enriched by one more element: Max, Sainz just doesn’t want him in the team. It’s understandable: the Spaniard is very strong, in driving and in character. Last year without the reviled manhole cover in Las Vegas he would have finished the championship ahead of Leclerc with equal cars, and this would have happened for the second time in three years of red cohabitation. In summary: no one more than him has been more competitive in the family duel with Charles. And Charles is Charles, not pizza and figs.
And then, in this latest period of limping Ferrari, Carlos is more determined and less of a whiner than Leclerc.
But Max doesn’t want to know about this possible future cohabitation. And then let’s not forget that after the famous scandal of the whatsapps with spicy photos exchanged between Chris Horner and his friend inside the team, a lady who is also said to be the current partner of Max’s father, neither the driver nor Helmut Marko have hidden their discomfort in continuing in the team. Not to mention the ‘other’ photos, the ones that (whispers radio box) Horner would have used against the Red Bull owners to get out of trouble: some rather risqué scenes of Marko and Max in other situations. But we are in the gossip, better to stop here.
The fact is that Mercedes is giving a very powerful chase to Verstappen. Toto Wolff wants him, and it is said that he has obtained unlimited credit from the Stuttgart company to conquer him. After all, if it is true that today Max is worth between three and five tenths per lap of human advantage over anyone else, bringing him home would mean recovering from six tenths to one second compared to Red Bull. An enormity.
This is the new context. And Horner’s car is a little weaker today than in the past, while Mercedes has been showing its muscles for at least two races: it could play a fundamental role in the new equation. In the end, therefore, Sainz could go in a few hours from the role of driver dumped by Ferrari, to driver chosen by the strongest team of this decade. And maybe, if Max were to emigrate, even into the role of number one.
How did Litfiba sing? Arriba arriba El Diablo! The devil Carlos Sainz, ready and loaded with buckshot for a new sensational page of F1.
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