Why Red Bull Should Bring Back Carlos Sainz

Two weeks ago, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was recovering from a major operation after being struck down with appendicitis. His stand-in, Ollie Bearman, did a cracking job filling in at short notice during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and many expected him to take Sainz’s seat again for the Australian GP.

Not only did Sainz recover from his appendectomy to race in Melbourne, he promptly wiped the floor with everyone. OK, championship leader Max Verstappen saw his car explode early on, but Sainz had already got past him at the start and never looked troubled by anyone else as the race continued. His first win of the season followed another great performance in the 2024 opening race in Bahrain.

Meanwhile, Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, failed dismally in his task to rescue points for Red Bull Racing. As the de facto number two driver, nobody really expects Perez to beat Verstappen, but in what’s been proven the fastest car on the grid, the Mexican is expected to pick up the pieces when Max is nobbled. As far as Red Bull is concerned, a win for Perez would be the best-case scenario, but a podium should be the bare minimum.

Perez finished fifth. In fairness to him, his performance thus far in 2024 has been a big improvement on his fairly woeful 2023, and some of his issues in Australia were down to the team, rather than him. But he’s still way, way off Verstappen’s pace and performance. We’re surely far enough into his Red Bull tenure to say with some confidence that he’s not meeting expectations.

So, we have a Ferrari driver that’s flying and a Red Bull number two that’s floundering. But Carlos Sainz is out of a drive at the end of the year. Generally regarded as slightly inferior to his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, Sainz is being given the heave-ho in 2025 to make way for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who is leaving Mercedes. It’s an understandable decision, but Sainz has now repeatedly proved that he would be an asset to a top team. He might not be a Verstappen, a Hamilton, an Alonso or even a Leclerc, but he’s too good to be in a midfield or back-of-the-grid team.

Conversations thus far have suggested Sainz could replace Hamilton at Mercedes, or end up at Sauber, which will become the Audi works team in 2026. But Mercedes is in some trouble right now, unable – for the third year in a row – to understand why their car doesn’t work the way they expect it to. And Sauber can’t even get their wheel nuts to work properly. Even when Audi takes over, it’ll likely take them a while to get up to speed.

The solution seems simple. Perez has had more than a fair crack at being Red Bull’s number two, and he’s not been good enough. Someone else deserves a go, and Carlos Sainz ticks all the boxes. He’s fast, determined and has a wealth of experience. He’s also been part of the Red Bull family before, as part of the Red Bull Junior Team, and started his F1 career at Toro Rosso, the forerunner of the RB team, in 2015.

Red Bull’s other options to replace Perez would seem to be: Daniel Ricciardo, who is in a seemingly terminal flat spin, unable to get close to his teammate Yuki Tsunoda at RB; Liam Lawson, who had a great few races replacing Ricciardo at RB in 2023, but is inexperienced; Pierre Gasly or Alex Albon, who have both been at Red Bull before but were dropped after failing to impress.

After the best part of a decade in F1, Carlos Sainz may not quite qualify as a top-tier driver, but he’s very, very close, and on par or better than those drivers mentioned above.

While Red Bull has enjoyed dominance over the rest of the grid for several seasons, that might not last – especially as infighting within the upper management distracts from the day-to-day task of racing. The team needs someone driven and dependable to back up Verstappen, and get them in place ready for the big F1 rule change that’s coming in 2026.

That person is Carlos Sainz. It’s time for him to come home.