Red Bull might feel lucky now to have a driver like Max Verstappen in their team. For instance, a driver like Sergio Perez would not be as successful while driving a superior car like RB19. Clearly, no matter how superior the car is, a team needs a superior driver as well. And with Max, the Austrian outfit has got just the perfect guy for the job. Moreover, the best way to describe Verstappen’s racing style is fast, competitive, and ruthless. He might seem a little unkind to his teammates at times. But that’s just his style while racing. He likes to dominate the grid when the team has provided him with the fastest car. Max Verstappen has changed things in F1 in the last three seasons.
It seemed like the dominating era of Mercedes would never end until the Dutchman beat Lewis Hamilton in the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP showdown. It was really an epic spectacle of competitive racing. But since the following year, Red Bull made sure there was no competition, only utter dominance. Last year, the only non-Red Bull driver to beat Max Verstappen was Carlos Sainz Jr. of Ferrari. The Spaniard was once Max’s teammate. In fact, they debuted together in F1 for Torro Rosso. The Red Bull advisor remembers how toxic the relationship between those two former Torro Rosso drivers was back then.
Helmut Marko Is Certainly Glad To Let Carlos Sainz Go And Hold On To The Dutchman
Recently, in an interview with Marca, Helmut Marko revealed why the Austrian team let the Spaniard leave. Carlos Sainz Jr. is a very skillful driver, no doubt, but that’s not enough. As a teammate, he was not adjusting well with the Dutchman. It is not the only time a driver has had a problem being the teammate of Max Verstappen. Even to this day, Sergio Perez complains about dealing with the pressure of being Verstappen’s teammate. Previously, Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly also mentioned that it is difficult to be his teammate. But the first F1 teammate of the Dutchman was Carlos Sainz Jr. Helmut Marko recalls the relationship between the two teenagers in Red Bull’s sister team was getting more and more toxic.
He thought there was no way they could keep the Spaniard with the team composition they had back then. After just four Grands Prix in 2016, Red Bull brought Max Verstappen to their main team from Torro Rosso. But they let Carlos Sainz go. Later, the Spaniard moved to McLaren, then to Renault. Finally, he signed with Ferrari. Carlos Sainz Jr. often found himself in his father’s shadow. Sainz Sr. is a sporting legend who recently emerged victorious in the Dakar Rally for the fourth time. That’s why the Red Bull advisor feels people sometimes wrongly identify the Ferrari driver as a “Spoiled rich kid.”
Red Bull Advisor Says Carlos Sainz Jr. Is Not A Spoiled Rich Kid
Moreover, Marko believes Sainz Jr. often gets unjust tags to his name. His father is a legend, and later, when he debuted in F1, his teammate was, unfortunately, Max Verstappen. There was even more competition and pressure on him. And the way things ended in Torro Rosso gave him a bad image. Moreover, Helmut Marko believes Carlos Sainz Jr. is a great driver undeniably and he was even on par level with Max back in Torro Rosso days.
In the junior categories, Marko noted that Carlos was faster than Sebastian Vettel in the fast corners. It was at that time when the four-time champion was the benchmark for Red Bull. The Spaniard was really fast, and he had to struggle a lot to get where he is today.
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