Carlos Sainz to Red Bull rumors gain momentum after public handshake between the Ferrari driver and Helmut Marko

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz and Red Bull team advisor Helmut Marko were recently seen shaking hands publicly amidst reports of the former joining the Austrian team for the 2024 season.

The Spaniard is currently looking for a drive for the next season as he was dropped by the Scuderia in favor of Lewis Hamilton. Since the news, Sainz has displayed amazing performances as he got a P3 in the season opener in Bahrain and a race win in Melbourne after sitting out the Saudi Arabian GP due to appendicitis.

As per PlanetF1, Carlos Sainz was spotted shaking hands with Helmut Marko which sent the rumor mills swirling about a possible move to Red Bull. The Ferrari driver was a part of the Red Bull junior program and made a debut in F1 with Toro Rosso in 2015.

After his victory in Melbourne, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner praised Carlos Sainz and seemingly showcased interest in his services for the 2025 season. He said (via ESPN):

"I think we want to feel the best pairing that we can in Red Bull Racing and sometimes you've got to look outside the pool as well. You've had a very fast unemployed driver win today. The market is reasonably fluid with certain drivers.

"I mean Carlos is the only driver that's beaten Red Bull, so he appears to be our nemesis. Look, I mean based on a performance like that you couldn't rule any possibility out."

Carlos Sainz chimes in on the need to speed up discussions about his future

Carlos Sainz has stated that he is in conversations with a few teams about his future but emphasized that he needed to speed up the process and settle his future for the 2025 season.

Speaking with F1.com, the Ferrari driver said:

“I’m talking obviously to a few [teams], because that’s what my management team and myself should do when I don’t have a job for next year yet. We’re talking to pretty much all of them.

"The only thing I would say is that obviously it’s time now to speed up a bit everything and hopefully we can get it sorted sooner rather than later.”

The three-time race winner has claimed that he has been 'seeing the more realistic options'. It will be fascinating to see where Carlos Sainz ends up for the 2025 season.