Carlos Sainz opened up on the last chance saloon scenario he faced with Red Bull, who threatened to pull the plug on his Formula 1 dream.

And that high-pressure situation came back in his Formula Renault days, told he either won the series or Red Bull were closing the door to Formula 1.

Carlos Sainz credits his father for F1 breakthrough

Red Bull’s warning came at a time when Sainz spent a season-and-a-bit in the category, taking the 2014 title with DAMS in what was his first full Formula Renault 3.5 season.

And with that, Red Bull delivered the reward as for the following season, Sainz moved up to Formula 1, partnering Max Verstappen in an all-rookie line-up at their second team, then known as Toro Rosso.

“I remember I was starting to get close to Formula 1, it was those one or two years before making it, and Red Bull told me, ‘Okay, now, next year is your last chance, you go into Formula 2 [Formula Renault 3.5], and you either win or there is no space for you in Formula 1’,” Sainz told Rolling Stone at the dinner table.

“I’m 18-19 years old, so you feel the pressure and I suddenly realised that from believing I was always going to make it because you are naive when you are younger, you say, ‘I have the talent, I’m winning, I’m going to make it’, that I might not.

“I was lucky to have my dad, who was already World Champion at the time saying, ‘This is what you are missing to be World Champion’ and I won [Formula Renault 3.5] and I made it to Formula 1.

“But if I hadn’t done that switch, and if I didn’t have my dad there to help and guide me to go up in my preparation, I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

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Sainz and Verstappen were Toro Rosso team-mates for just over a season, until Verstappen moved up to the main Red Bull team as of the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, a debut race he won.

It was a driver partnership between Verstappen and Sainz which had its flashpoints, and Sainz recently pointed the finger at Toro Rosso for that.

“With Max, there was a rivalry, but in that team, they wanted at all costs to create dualism as a selection to go to Red Bull,” Sainz told Corriere della Sera.

“We were 17 and 20 years old, we were immature.”

Skip forward to F1 2025 and Verstappen is about to go hunting a fifth straight World Championship with Red Bull, while Sainz is starting out life at Williams as a four-time grand prix winner, having lost his Ferrari seat to Lewis Hamilton.

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