The story of Carlos Sainz in this 2026 season could have been quite different. The Madrid-born driver is languishing in the back of the field with Williams, yet he was really close to racing for Red Bull. Christian Horner, the team principal of the Austrian outfit, opened talks with Sainz about signing him. But an unforeseen event prevented it.
Horner has revealed in his newly published autobiography, titled ‘Drive’, that he intended to sign Sainz as Max Verstappen’s teammate for 2026. But only five days after starting negotiations, he was confronted with a dismissal letter that left him out of Red Bull.
Sainz Could Have Swapped Williams for Red Bull
The release of ‘Drive’, Horner’s autobiography, has brought to light an alternate reality we didn’t know about. The one in which Carlos Sainz could have raced for Red Bull in 2026. And according to Horner, he did reach the stage of talks to sign the Spanish driver, but there wasn’t time for an actual negotiation to take place.
Horner confesses that “I spoke with him about a possible signing for Red Bull for 2026. It was in the lead-up to the British Grand Prix. He was a driver with a lot of experience, a team player, and I knew he would give his all for the team”. That is, the conversation took place on Thursday, July 3, 2025, at the Silverstone circuit.
However, on July 9, 2025, just six days later, Red Bull announced the firing of Horner, after 20 years tied to the team. “Five days later they informed me I was fired”, details the former Red Bull team principal, which can be understood as the team informing him before the general public.
A firing that altered his career and perhaps Sainz’s, because the Madrid-born driver could have been in 2026 with a Red Bull that has already won two races this season and has collected eleven podiums, two of them by its second driver, the Frenchman Isack Hadjar, who ultimately was chosen to replace Yuki Tsunoda.
A confession by Horner confirms that Sainz had a release clause from Williams in case a better team appeared. In the end that did not happen, and now Sainz has already renewed his long-term contract with the English team, which is one of the worst on the grid. He only has twelve points so far this season.
Remember that Sainz is a Red Bull academy product and made his Formula 1 debut with their junior team, Toro Rosso. It seems he will never return to his parent team.
Images | Red Bull, Formula 1
