"Christian Horner clearly dropped in Carlos Sainz's name": F1 journalist addresses the possibility of the Spaniard joining Max Verstappen at Red Bull

F1 journo Scott Mitchell-Malm recently talked about Carlos Sainz potentially joining Red Bull after the 2024 F1 season. He also recalled Red Bull team boss Christian Horner mentioning Sainz's name while addressing the team's future driver lineup.

The seats on the Austrian team could be vacated if Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen decide to leave. The chances of Perez leaving the team could be much higher since his contract ends after 2024, and he could be replaced if he underperforms. Amid Christian Horner's investigation fiasco, several rumors emerged that Verstappen could leave the team as well.

On the other hand, Carlos Sainz would become a free agent after 2024 since he would be replaced by Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari.

Speaking on The Race F1 podcast [15:47], Scott Mitchell-Malm recalled that Christian Horner brought up Sainz's name while discussing his team's future lineup. He speculated that mentioning the Ferrari driver's name could hint that Horner wants to look outside Red Bull's own umbrella and find a driver.

"I think that Red Bull element is very interesting. Christian Horner clearly dropped in Sainz's name in the conversation for a reason. He deliberately steered it to an answer that then meant he could talk up Sainz and suggest that maybe Red Bull needs to look outside their current driver pool and go back to someone who walked away," Mitchell-Malm said.

Carlos Sainz has a history with the Austrian team. In his early F1 days, he was part of the Red Bull family and raced for their B team, Toro Rosso (currently known as Visa CashApp RB). He raced for Toro Rosso from 2015 to 2017, after which he cut ties with the Austrian giants to forge his own path in F1.

---

Red Bull's senior advisor plays down Carlos Sainz's potential move to the Austrian team

Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko played down Carlos Sainz's chance to join the defending world champions.

Speaking to kleinezeitung.at, Murko stated that the Spaniard would like to decide his future before the team wanted to decide their future driver lineup, hinting that Sainz would not be able to join the defending world champions.

"Albon is not an issue for us, he has a contract until 2025 and Sainz probably wants to make a decision earlier than we do," Marko said.

Carlos Sainz has not yet decided where he will go after leaving Ferrari in 2024 since there are no official announcements from him or any team.