Carlos Sainz feels confident he would make an ideal teammate for Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
With his impending departure from Ferrari due to Lewis Hamilton's arrival, Sainz considered moves to other teams like Williams, Audi-backed Sauber, and Alpine for 2025 and beyond.
Sainz's father, rally legend Carlos Sainz Sr., has a strong connection with Audi and Volkswagen. "He told me a thousand times how good they would be," the younger Sainz told Auto Motor und Sport. "He is 100 percent sure that Audi will be strong in the future. I wanted to help build something, but I also wanted good results in the short term, and in my opinion Williams was the best option."
Sainz acknowledged it wasn't an easy decision. "Up until the day I signed, there were several good options. In the end, I had to follow my instincts. Time will tell if I was right."
Although Sainz would have preferred a top-tier team, rumours floated of a potential reunion with the Red Bull family, where he debuted in 2015 with Toro Rosso. Dr. Helmut Marko, however, had previously expressed concerns that pairing Sainz with Verstappen again might prove "too explosive."
Sainz disagrees with that view. "If my relationship with Max is the reason I didn't end up there, then I say there wouldn't have been any problems," he maintains. "If the decision depended on that alone, then it would just be wrong."
He continued, "I think I would get on well with Max. We were 16 and 19 at the time and have matured a lot since then. At Toro Rosso, they put you in a team and say 'fight each other, then whoever is best gets to go to Red Bull.' You're not working together for the championship, otherwise the behaviour of the two drivers would change completely. You can see it with Charles (Leclerc) and Lando (Norris), my last two teammates. There were never any problems."
Verstappen has established himself as a dominant force at Red Bull Racing and in Formula 1 as a whole, known for his strong personality. In a live sim-racing stream following the announcement of F1's 2025 season launch event in London, Verstappen commented bluntly: "I hope I'm sick that week."
Sainz believes public perception of drivers can be skewed. "Inside, a driver can look very different," he observed. "As a driver, you always play around with how you are viewed from the outside."
"I'm not saying Max isn't like he is. Lando has chosen to reveal a bit more of himself. I don't know if I'm somewhere in between or more in one direction, but - as I said - you should be careful with such analyses."
