Carlos Sainz fury revealed over Max Verstappen F1 decision

Carlos Sainz looks at Max Verstappen with a disgruntled look — Photo: © IMAGO

Red Bull

Carlos Sainz fury revealed over Max Verstappen decision

Verstappen and Sainz have a history of an intense F1 rivalry

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Sunday 17 May 2026 08:56

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F1 is the most competitive motorsport series on the planet and only the most talented, resourceful, and thick-skinned drivers will make it in the long run.

Therefore, when a driver is handed a rare opportunity to show they are made of the right stuff, an all or nothing approach must be adopted, and no one proves this more than Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman got his start in the pinnacle of motorsport back in 2015 having adopted an untraditional path to F1, skipping the F2 feeder series altogether.

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Verstappen made history on his F1 debut as the youngest driver the sport had ever seen, a record he still holds to this day having first competed with Red Bull's junior outfit Toro Rosso at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, when he was just 17 years and 166 days old.

For the 2015 campaign, the Dutchman was paired with Carlos Sainz, who was also navigating his maiden campaign in the sport that year after graduating from Red Bull's development driver pool.

Despite both stars being snapped up by the former head of the Red Bull junior driver programme Helmut Marko, Sainz and Verstappen did not see eye to eye. An unsurprising fact considering they were both competing for a coveted full-time seat at the main Red Bull F1 team.

Marko: It was clear Verstappen should be promoted over Sainz

Through its many rebrandings, the role of Red Bull's junior F1 team has always been to prepare (or test depending on how you look at it) young stars for a seat at the main squad since its inception in 2005.

Verstappen is by far the greatest success of this practice, with the Dutchman promoted up to the main team in 2016 in a move that many deemed to be premature, yet has resulted in the now 28-year-old claiming four drivers' championships.

In a recent interview with Dutch publication De Telegraaf, Marko looked back on the gutsy decision to swap Verstappen and and Red Bull F1 driver Daniil Kvyat ahead of the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.

The Austrian said: "Kvyat crashed twice in that race [2016 Russian GP] (on the opening lap against Sebastian Vettel, ed.)."

It was this series of mistakes from the Russian star (which to make matters worse, happened in front of a home crowd at the Sochi Autodrom) that convinced Marko that Red Bull couldn't afford to wait to promote an 18-year-old Verstappen up to the main F1 team.

Assessing Kvyat's form with the energy drink giants in the pinnacle of motorsport, Marko added: "The year before, he performed adequately and was sometimes even faster than Daniel Ricciardo, particularly in the rain.

"But in 2016, he was no longer the same driver and complained about the brakes from the very first day of testing. It was clear that we had to do something."

And so, history was made. On May 5, 2016, it was announced that Verstappen would be swapping seats with Kvyat immediately, with the Dutch starlet promoted to the role of Ricciardo's team-mate and the Russian driver dropped back down to the junior squad from the Spanish GP onwards.

Marko then revealed that his move to get Verstappen into the main team as soon as possible did not go down well with his fierce rival, revealing: "Max’s team-mate Carlos Sainz was very disappointed that we didn’t choose him. But for us, it was a clear and simple decision."

Unfortunately for the Spaniard, Marko was instantly proved right and Verstappen claimed his maiden race victory on debut for Red Bull at the very next race in Barcelona.

Since departing Red Bull's ranks altogether, Sainz has enjoyed the most success with Ferrari and is in fact still the most recent grand prix winner for the Scuderia.

However, his positive stint in red wasn't enough for Ferrari to choose to retain him over Charles Leclerc in 2025, and instead, Sainz was replaced by seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.

When looking for a new team, Sainz pretty much had free rein over which outfit to move to, although reports quickly spread that a return to Red Bull would not be possible given his past disagreements with Verstappen.

Having instead chosen Williams to see out the next part of his career, Sainz is now struggling with a severely overweight car and likely questioning whether it would have been better to put his grudge with Verstappen aside and finally secure a seat with Red Bull in F1.

The fact is that he has never amounted to championship success and at the age of 31, may have now missed the golden opportunity to fight for a title.

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen Carlos Sainz Helmut Marko