No Red Bull driver can match Verstappen. Carlos Sainz could
When Sainz was team-mates with Max Verstappen, he regularly kept pace with the Flying Dutchman and beat him more times than not in qualifying. Was Red Bull wrong not to hold on to him?
Red Bull have struggled to find a driver to match Max Verstappen since Daniel Ricciardo departed. Pierre Gasly couldn’t do the job and Alex Albon, despite impressive performances, hasn’t matched him either.
With these two unsuccessful candidates so far, you have to wonder if McLaren’s Carlos Sainz could have stepped up - given he used to be a Red Bull junior driver.
In 2015, Verstappen and Sainz were team-mates at Toro Rosso and both in their rookie year. By the end of the season, Verstappen bagged 48 points to Sainz’s 18. But, points alone don’t paint the full picture.
Sainz had more retirements that year - seven to Verstappen’s four. All of Sainz’s retirements were mechanical issues - he never crashed in a race. Verstappen, on the other hand, binned his car in Monaco and Britain.
The duo also had a year-long qualifying battle. Sainz edged Verstappen in the final round, going up 10, 9 over the course of the season.
This was particularly impressive, given Verstappen’s superb qualifying record in 2019. Pierre Gasly out-qualified the Dutchman once, while Alex Albon only did-so once when Verstappen had engine issues in Italy.
Verstappen was a step ahead of his 2019 team-mates Gasly and Albon - whereas when he raced against Sainz, the pair were regularly competing against each other.
One of the reason’s Sainz is no longer with Red Bull is due to the sport’s politics.
Four races into the 2016 season, Red Bull made the fateful decision to drop a struggling Daniil Kvyat from Red Bull, opening up a seat in the top team. Verstappen and Sainz were still team-mates at Toro Rosso, but the younger Verstappen got the nod to move up.
Sainz would later tell Formula 1’s podcast, Beyond the Grid, it was a “big blow” to see Verstappen chosen ahead of himself.
“I always thought that [Max] obviously deserved it. But I also felt that I deserved it at the same time, because I felt I was not getting outperformed or beaten that often for there to be a very clear cut between him and me.”
Three-time Le Mans winner and former Toyota F1 driver Allan McNish said toward the end of the 2015 season Sainz’s performances were much more impressive than the results at face value.
McNish pointed out how smooth, consistent, and mistake-free Sainz had been, but he also foresaw Sainz’s downfall. He spoke of a “logjam” at Red Bull - something that became all too true.
Verstappen and Ricciardo occupied the Red Bull seats for three seasons. Sainz was loaned to Renault in 2017, but the rug was pulled out from under him when Ricciardo joined the French constructor.
17 days after Ricciardo’s shock decision to leave Red Bull, Pierre Gasly was given the nod to make the jump, sealing Sainz’s fate. With Gasly clearly jumping Sainz in the Red Bull succession - the Spaniard left the family and joined McLaren, securing his future in the sport.
The headline of McNish’s BBC piece was that Sainz and Verstappen were both excellent in 2015. It’s rather ironic, because right now, it seems Red Bull’s biggest problem has been that they can’t find a second excellent driver.
What do you think of Red Bull’s decision to keep Alex Albon? Do you think he’s good enough to match Max Verstappen? Does Pierre Gasly deserve a second chance? Let me know in the comments!