Shock revelation that Carlos Sainz option ‘remains open’ to Red Bull

Red Bull have options which “remain option” to potentially sign Carlos Sainz in the future, team boss Christian Horner has revealed.

Sainz was overlooked by Red Bull as an option for F1 2025 and ultimately joined Williams on a multi-year deal after vacating his Ferrari seat so that seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton could make a blockbuster switch from Mercedes.

Red Bull chose Liam Lawson as Sergio Perez’s replacement for the upcoming season after axing the Mexican following his failure to turn around his abysmal form during the 2024 campaign.

There has been speculation that an exit clause in Sainz’s contract would enable him to leave Williams early in the event Red Bull or Mercedes came knocking.

And Red Bull team principal Horner appears to have indicated that is the case with his latest comments on the 30-year-old Spaniard and four-time grand prix winner.

“Carlos is a great driver, and options still remain open with him in the future,” Horner told RacingNews365. 

“He was considered, and in many respects, you’d say there was a real logic [to] Carlos, but we made the choice to look internally and put belief in the junior programme.

“That attracts more juniors because they see a pathway to Formula 1, and if we’d gone outside the programme, that is not sending the right message, because there is so much competition now for young drivers, at the age of 13 or 14 between the teams.

“That is healthy because it is investing in young talent, but by joining the Red Bull programme, you see a clear pathway that if you deliver, pretty much guarantees you’ll get to Formula 1.

“We would always prefer to give the opportunity to the progression of the junior programme.”

Concern about Sainz-Verstappen relationship

Red Bull decided against a move for Sainz amid rumours that the Max Verstappen and Sainz camps do not see eye-to-eye following their spell as teammates at Toro Rosso in 2015.

Last year, Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko claimed “the atmosphere between the two was quite toxic”.

“Sainz is, without a doubt, a great driver,” Marko told Marca. “He was almost on par with Max in Toro Rosso. The bad thing for him is that he was unlucky to have Verstappen as a team mate

“The atmosphere between the two at Toro Rosso was quite toxic. With the configuration we had then, I didn’t see a way to keep him with us, so Carlos went through Renault, McLaren and then he ended up at Ferrari.”