Carlos Sainz & Max Verstappen’s Future News Around the Corner

Are we about to see Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen become teammates again? The 2024 pre-season kicked off with one of the biggest news of the ‘silly season’. Ferrari announced that 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will replace Carlos Sainz in 2025 to become Charles Leclerc’s new teammate. What followed was a lot of speculation about Sainz’s future in Formula 1. Many experts linked him to the soon-to-become Audi team, Kick Sauber, because of Sainz Sr’s connection with the German manufacturer.

However, not many anticipated that the reigning world champion’s future with Red Bull Racing would also come under question only a few races into the season. Red Bull has been under the spotlight since the start of February because of the supposed internal power struggle. Christian Horner became the center of attention due to the allegations of inappropriate behavior against one of Red Bull Racing’s female employees.

And when Helmut Marko’s future at Red Bull came under threat following the alleged leak of private documents from the Horner investigation, Max Verstappen made it clear during the Saudi Arabain Grand Prix weekend that Marko’s presence in the team was very important for him. It was also reported that Verstappen has a special clause in his contract that would allow him to leave if Marko was let go.

Ever since, the Dutchman’s future has remained uncertain, with Mercedes team boss, Toto Wolff trying to lure Verstappen. And just a couple of weeks later in Australia, Horner surprised everyone when he said that Carlos Sainz was an attractive prospect for Red Bull.

There are a couple of different scenarios possible from here on between Carlos and Max. Either Carlos Sainz could replace Checo to partner with Max Verstappen if the latter stays at Red Bull (which he intends to), or Carlos might become Verstappen’s replacement if the Dutch driver decides to leave Red Bull. Either way, a recent conversation between F1 pundits over at Soymotor.com suggests that we might not have to wait much longer to get a confirmation on both their futures.

A recent tweet from Soymotor quoted Cristóbal Rosaleny saying, “Maybe we don’t have to wait until summer to find out the future of Max and Carlos…” [Translated by Google]

However, the ongoing struggle at Red Bull might give Toto Wolff a chance to mend his mistake from 2014.

Toto Wolff ready to give Max Verstappen a mega offer to join Mercedes

When talking about his junior star driver Kimi Antonelli, Toto Wolff made it known that he still regrets not being able to sign Max Verstappen when his arrival at Formula 1 was imminent in 2014. Instead Red Bull grabbed the opportunity and the rest is history. However, with the possibility of Max Verstappen moving away from Red Bull, Wolff has a chance to right the wrong. According to a recent report, Mercedes has agreed to offer a deal to Verstappen that will even surpass the package Lewis Hamilton is getting right now.

While Verstappen has said that he wants to see out his current contract at Red Bull till 2028, many have speculated that a change in the internal structure of Red Bull Racing could trigger Max Verstappen to activate his special clause that allows him to leave early. There are also a few who believe that Verstappen would not want to stick with Red Bull after 2025 when Honda will stop supplying power units to Red Bull.

With so much noise surrounding the driver market, what are your top predictions for Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen? Will they come full circle and get back together at Red Bull?