Max Verstappen “stopped Carlos Sainz coming to Red Bull”, but that was the move of a “smart”, not a “scared” driver.

This is the theory presented by former Williams and McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who believes Verstappen can “control” who Red Bull put in place as his team-mate and was “smart” to make sure that it was not Sainz.

Did Max Verstappen stop Carlos Sainz to Red Bull?

With speculation over the Red Bull future of Sergio Perez swirling for much of the F1 2024 campaign, Sainz was an option on the table for Red Bull should they have wanted to make the move, Sainz having found out before the season started that Lewis Hamilton would take his Ferrari seat from F1 2025.

But, with no leading seat emerging, Sainz, the winner of four grands prix, signed a multi-year deal with Williams, while following Perez’s exit after the season, Red Bull promoted Liam Lawson from Racing Bulls to race alongside Verstappen going forward.

Sainz and Verstappen are no strangers to life as team-mates, having started their careers together at Toro Rosso, a partnership which had its dramas.

And with Red Bull team boss Christian Horner recently confirming that Sainz remains a future option, though at this stage the junior team needed to be prioritised, Montoya believes Verstappen ensured that the team would not turn to 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 said in a CasasDeApuestas.bet interview.

“When they were team-mates 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 [Verstappen] being scared, it’s about being smart. Why would you make your life unnecessarily difficult and create a difficult environment?”

Sainz recently reflected on his season-and-a-bit spent as Toro Rosso team-mate to Verstappen, accusing the team of doing all they could to make them rivals.

“With Max, there was a rivalry, but in that team (Toro Rosso) they wanted at all costs to create dualism as a selection to go to Red Bull,” Sainz told Corriere della Sera.

“We were 17 and 20 years old, we were immature.”

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However, Sainz should not fear for his chances of success as a Williams driver, as according to Montoya, his former team will mirror the rise of his other former team McLaren.

Languishing at the back of the grid in 2023 when Andrea Stella took over as team principal, McLaren secured the F1 2024 Constructors’ Championship crown, ending a title drought that had been ongoing since 2008.

Williams principal James Vowles holds the same ambitions to return the team to the front of the F1 grid.

“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,” Montoya predicted. “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.”

Sainz will partner Alex Albon from F1 2025 with both drivers on multi-year terms at Williams.

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