Max Verstappen ‘would have stopped’ Carlos Sainz from joining Red Bull

Juan Pablo Montoya believes that Max Verstappen “would have stopped” Carlos Sainz from joining Red Bull for F1 2025.

Sainz had been rumoured to be a candidate for a Red Bull drive this season when it was announced that he had lost his Ferrari seat to Lewis Hamilton from 2025. But the Spaniard was ultimately overlooked by Red Bull, who continued to keep the faith in Sergio Perez.

Perez was eventually ditched at the end of the 2024 season having failed to arrest his abysmal form, with Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson instead promoted to the senior team for this term.

There had been suggestions that Sainz was never a serious candidate for Red Bull due to rumoured conflict between his camp and Verstappen’s. The pair were teammates at Toro Rosso in 2015 and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has revealed their relationship was “quite toxic” at times.

And seven-time grand prix winner Montoya suspects Verstappen would have vetoed any move for Sainz.

“I’m sure that Max Verstappen would have stopped Carlos Sainz coming to Red Bull so the competition within the team wasn’t difficult, although I can’t confirm personally,” Montoya told CasasDeApuestas.bet.

“When they were teammates at Toro Rosso their relationship was pretty bumpy. I am not sure Max would have wanted to deal with that again. He made Max Verstappen’s life pretty difficult. So when you can control who is in the car as Max is, you wouldn’t want to shoot yourself would you?”

“It’s not about [Max Verstappen] being scared, it’s about being smart. Why would you make your life unnecessarily difficult and create a difficult environment?”

Montoya added that he thinks “it is disappointing that Carlos Sainz didn’t end up in a better place but I think Williams are going to be another McLaren over the next few years.

“I think they can do amazing things down the road. Williams two or three years from now can be where McLaren are now having turned everything around. They have the financial backing they need and have everything in place to get the job done.”

Montoya tips Colapinto for Williams return

Montoya also reckons pressure will be on Alex Albon to keep his seat and has tipped Franco Colapinto to return to Williams in the near future.

“Franco Colapinto will end up at Williams,” Montoya stated.

“The two guys who are going to have it tough next year are Jack Doohan because Pierre Gasly is performing really well and the other is Alex Albon. He is in the same position as he was when he was with Max.

“Everything at Williams is going to revolve around Carlos [Sainz]. It has revolved around Alex for the past few years.

“When you’ve been number one and related to number two but are still expected to be as quick, the pressure will build, the accidents will happen and that might provide an opportunity for Franco.”