“Things Got Heated”: Red Bull Reveals the Shocking Reason Behind Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz’s Failed Partnership at Toro Rosso

Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr., both come from families who boast of racing legacies. While Max’s father Jos is a former Formula 1 driver, Carlos’ father, Carlos Sainz Sr. still competes in rallies. Max and Carlos were teammates at Toro Rosso during their formative years in Formula 1, and things didn’t go smoothly then because of their fathers.

Max Verstappen started out in Formula 1 at the tender of 17. Ever since then, the Dutch driver has moved on to Red Bull and won 2 back-to-back drivers’ championship titles. Impressed with Carlos’ mature driving style, Renault signed him after his 3-year stint at Red Bull’s sister team. Later, he moved on to McLaren and is now driving for Ferrari.

The cause of friction between Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz during their years at Toro Rosso

Carlos Sainz Sr. is a two-time world rally champion. According to Helmut Marko, when Sainz Jr. debuted in Formula 1, he had to fight the tag of, “the spoiled son of a racing driver”. On top of that, he had to compete with a more than capable driver, Max Verstappen. Amid all this, Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko recently revealed the reason for the rift between the two during their time at Toro Rosso.

Talking to Auto, Motor und Sport Helmut Marko revealed, “That was not a healthy relationship at Toro Rosso. On one side there was the shrewd politician Carlos Sainz Senior, and on the other side the emotional Jos Verstappen. Things got heated at times.” 

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The two drivers have had two towering figures growing up to look up to. Their fathers have not just been the inspiration to take up the sport, but the motivation to keep going and give their best. While Carlos seldom talks about the influence of Sainz Sr. on his career, Max has been vocal, repeatedly narrating the incidents from his formative years with his father that made him the motor sporting ace that he is.

Max and Jos Verstappen’s crazy gas station incident

Max Verstappen and his father Jos Verstappen recently appeared on Red Bull’s official podcast, ‘Talking Bull’. While Max openly talked about his father’s hard taskmaster approach to his development in racing since his karting days, one incident he narrated in the podcast caught our attention.

Max talked about a 2012 incident when he was in his final race to win the championship, but missed out because of a crash. Talking about their ride back home, he said, “On the way home in our van, I wanted to talk to my father about what happened and express my own opinion about the accident. My father didn’t want to talk to me, but I kept trying to talk.”

He continued, “Then we had a fight and he stopped at a gas station and said, ‘I don’t want to talk to you anymore from the car’.”

Jos then dropped Max at the gas station, miles away from home, but later came back to pick him up. The Dutchman said that the incident has influenced his driving a lot ever since.

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