Martin Brundle casts verdict on second Red Bull seat with Carlos Sainz pitfalls identified

Carlos Sainz of Ferrari at the Austrian Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz Jr. is somehow both the hottest free agent on the Formula 1 driver market for the 2025 season, and the driver no team seems able to touch.

Rumours have swirled about where the Spanish racer will end up — but Martin Brundle is quite confident he won’t end up at Red Bull. Instead, he has suggested Liam Lawson should bypass the junior team and head straight for the top.

Brundle: ‘Max Verstappen breaks [young drivers] heads’

Speaking on the latest episode of the Sky F1 podcast, Martin Brundle weighed in on what could theoretically transpire if Sergio Perez loses his Red Bull Racing seat… and he’s not confident the Milton Keynes team would turn to Sainz.

Brundle identified one key factor that makes it challenging to race alongside Max Verstappen: The Dutch driver is absurdly fast.

“The trouble is for a young driver, Verstappen just breaks their head because he’s so fast and he can handle a car that’s a little bit lively in a high-speed corner,” Brundle said.

Time and again, we’ve seen Verstappen’s teammates falter where the Dutch driver succeeds. That is largely because Red Bull has designed its cars with Verstappen’s input in mind.

Writing for The Players’ Tribune, Alex Albon actually elaborated on that concept further, saying that Max “has a very distinct style of driving, and he likes the car set up a certain way that’s hard for a lot of drivers to sync up with.

“Of course, you can tinker and tweak your own car, but just the Red Bull in general is suited to Max’s style.”

Verstappen, Albon writes, prefers high front-end sensitivity — but that makes the car so sensitive that other drivers have been unable to handle it.

That being said, Brundle feels that Liam Lawson “has the talent to cope” with a highly dominant teammate. Should a seat open up at Red Bull Racing, Brundle would place Lawson in that set with ease.

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While Lawson is the best candidate for the seat in Brundle’s eyes, the pundit notes there are several other drivers who have been rumoured to be in contention for a Red Bull drive. He just doesn’t think they’re as likely.

“You would say that Ricciardo’s head is in the right place to actually not be battered again by Max,” Brundle said, “but I think that’s happened to Sergio, and his head should be in the right place as well.

“And as Rachel [Brookes] said, we sense Daniel’s under pressure for his own seat, let alone being rewarded [by] moving up to the top team.”

Red Bull’s Formula 2 drivers aren’t quite prepared to make the leap, in Brundle’s eyes, which means there’s just one candidate left to address: Carlos Sainz Jr.

Sainz and Verstappen ‘not a happy setup’

Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen have been teammates before back in their Toro Rosso days — and Brundle argues that that experience alone should explain why a Sainz/Verstappen pairing would be challenging in the future.

“I think the problem they’ve got with the Sainzes — father and son — and the Verstappens — father and son — [is that] it wasn’t a happy set-up back when they were Toro Rosso teammates,” Brundle said.

“I think Red Bull are struggling to cope with one father at the moment, let alone two.”

Brundle is, of course, referring to Jos Verstappen’s ongoing butting of heads with Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

“The thought of Sainz hanging around without a drive, I mean, he would presumably hope to still get the Mercedes seat,” Brundle mused.

Now, though, there’s just one problem.

“But then Antonelli wins a race at the weekend in Formula 2 and changes the dynamic of that as well.

“It’s literally day by day at the moment. It’s a head-scratcher for Red Bull, and that explains to you why they signed Sergio Perez.”

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