Australian GP Win Could Reunite Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen as Christian Horner Seeks Services of Ferrari Driver on Notice Period

Carlos Sainz made a phenomenal comeback at the 2024 Australian GP after enduring an appendicitis surgery just 16 days ago. Just like in Singapore last year, it was the #55 driver who broke Max Verstappen’s winning streak once again. Acknowledging the supreme human effort and skill Sainz displayed at the Albert Park street circuit, Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner has all but confirmed his interest in getting the 29-year-old back into the Red Bull family alongside Max Verstappen.

After Sainz‘s third career win, Horner told the media (as quoted by Formu1a.uno), “We want to field the best pairing that we can, and sometimes you’ve got to look outside the pool. You’ve had a very fast unemployed driver [Sainz] win today’s race, so the market is reasonably fluid.”

The ex-Toro Rosso driver has been in sublime form ever since the news came out that he would be making way for Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari from 2025 onwards. During the season-opening race at Bahrain, he scored Ferrari’s first podium of the season as his teammate, Leclerc finished behind him in 4th.

At the 2024 Saudi Arabian GP, however, the appendicitis diagnosis cut short his weekend and he had to sit out. Despite undergoing his appendix removal surgery just two weeks ago, the Spaniard has sensationally returned and hit the ground running with an epic victory in Australia. This put Ferrari just four points off of Red Bull in the Constructors’ championship, too.

Can Carlos Sainz fulfill the missed Red Bull dream in 2025?

Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen debuted in F1 together during the 2015 season. They were teammates at the Bulls’ sister team, Toro Rosso (now V-CARB), however, the Dutchman beat him to the punch as he got the promotion to the main team in 2016.

This meant that Sainz decided to leave the Red Bull stable and find a project to lead elsewhere. In 2017, he signed with Renault but an incoming Daniel Ricciardo replaced him after the 2018 season. That’s when he got his break with McLaren.

After two solid years with the Woking-based team, the #55 driver was spotted by the then Ferrari team principal, Mattia Binotto. The Italian boss chose to sign the Spaniard as a replacement for Sebastian Vettel from the 2021 season onwards.

After 4 years with the Scuderia, where he has won three times and stood on the podium on 18 occasions, Sainz is now looking for a drive for the 2025 season with Hamilton’s impending arrival sentencing an end to his Ferrari career. Could Red Bull become the savior team for the Smooth Operator?