F1 News
Helmut Marko: "Carlos is fast - but he's not a Verstappen"
Helmut Marko says that Aston Martin Red Bull Racing made the correct decision to let Carlos Sainz go despite his superb season for McLaren in 2019. Sainz was teammates with Max Verstappen at Toro Rosso before the team decided to promote the Dutchman to the senior team, allowing Sainz to go to Renault and then McLaren.
Red Bull Racing have had their difficulties finding a second driver to partner Verstappen since Daniel Ricciardo left for Renault at the end of 2019, with Pierre Gasly a disaster and Alex Albon struggling to have a huge impact so far, despite being retained for 2020.
Marko told motorsport.com: "Carlos was confronted with one Max Verstappen.
"The choice [in 2016] then actually went between the two: who do we promote? And then you get to the heart of it.
"Carlos is fast - otherwise we would not have picked him up at all - but he is not a Verstappen.
"We have a good relationship, but at that particular moment we also had Verstappen in the team and there are differences between them."