Carlos Sainz: Red Bull return for F1 2025 not out of the question admits Christian Horner

Christian Horner on the chance of Australian GP victor Carlos Sainz returning to the Red Bull fold in 2025: “Based on a performance like that you couldn’t rule any possibility out”; Ferrari’s Sainz, who was a Red Bull young driver, is currently without a seat for next year

Christian Horner has admitted that Red Bull’s current “nemesis” Carlos Sainz – the only driver from a rival team to win races in the past 16 months – cannot be discounted as a contender for the vacant seat at the F1 world champions for 2025.

Sainz, who began his F1 career as a Red Bull-backed driver at what was Toro Rosso alongside Max Verstappen in 2015, broke his former team-mate’s nine-race winning streak with an accomplished drive for Ferrari in Melbourne on Sunday.

The victory came just 15 days after the Spanish driver underwent surgery to remove his appendix.

Verstappen’s winning run had started in Japan last September – the race after Sainz at the Singapore GP had ended the Dutchman’s record of 10 wins in succession.

Sainz is currently without a drive for next season after Ferrari in February signed seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton to replace him.