Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya has claimed that Max Verstappen "would have stopped" Carlos Sainz from joining Red Bull. Whilst the Colombian cannot confirm if his claim is true, Montoya believes the reigning world champion would have persuaded Red Bull bosses against signing Sainz. Following the announcement on February 1, 2024, that Lewis Hamilton would replace Sainz at Ferrari this year, the Spanish driver was linked with several teams. Red Bull were one of multiple outfits Sainz was rumoured to be in talks with, before signing for Williams. Verstappen and Sainz did spend the entirety of 2015 as team-mates at Toro Rosso (known now as Racing Bulls), where their relationship was rocky. Sainz did not succumb to Verstappen in 2015, before the Dutchman was promoted to Red Bull in the early rounds the following year. In Montoya's eyes, the four-time world champion would not want somebody like the 30-year-old alongside him. "I’m sure that Max Verstappen would have stopped Carlos Sainz coming to Red Bull so the competition within the team wasn’t difficult, although I can’t confirm personally," Montoya told CasasDeApuestas.bet . "When they were team-mates at Toro Rosso their relationship was pretty bumpy. I am not sure Max would have wanted to deal with that again. "He made Max Verstappen’s life pretty difficult. So when you can control who is in the car as Max is, you wouldn’t want to shoot yourself would you?" It is not because Montoya thinks Sainz worries Verstappen, but more to do with the 27-year-old wanting to keep his life at Red Bull simple. "It’s not about [Max Verstappen] being scared, it’s about being smart," added Montoya. "Why would you make your life unnecessarily difficult and create a difficult environment?"
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