Currently battling against each driving for championship contenders Ferrari and Red Bull, Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen were once teammates. Back in 2015, both drivers were teammates in Red Bull’s sister team, Toro Rosso (Now AlphaTauri). The duo started their F1 journey together. Recalling the time, Carlos Sainz talks with Motorsport Italy about confronting Max Verstappen in the early days.

The duo were part of Red Bull’s junior programme when they made their first step into F1. The programme has already given many big names to the sport. Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel are two of them.

The Spaniard was snapped up early in his racing career back in 2010 at the age of just 16. Whereas Max Verstappen, tagged as a wunderkind, came into F1, having blown his competition away in the junior series.

The Ferrari driver has admitted he always knew both he and Verstappen would eventually fight for race wins.

“In terms of pure conviction, I honestly have had it since my debut in 2015,” he told Motorsport.com. “When I confronted Max in Toro Rosso I thought we would have a future in the sport, and I was willing to bet that we would both win races.”

Max Verstappen & Carlos Sainz’s ‘Toxic’ Relationship Pushed the Now Ferrari Driver Out of the Red Bull Family

Helmut Marko once described the relationship between the pair during their time together at Toro Rosso as “toxic”. Now the Ferrari driver has cleared up the rumors about his relationship with the two-time world champion.

Carlos Sainz doesn’t hate the Red Bull ace Max Verstappen

If you believe the rumors, you’d think that Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz’s time together at Toro Rosso was an all-out war. The fact that the friction between both drivers’ dads didn’t really help the case was just unfortunate for the Spaniard.

Back in 2018, clearing all the rumors, the Ferrari driver said, “It’s one enigma of the paddock. Everyone thinks me and Max hate each other, and that’s absolutely not the case.”

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Putting an end to all the speculations, the Spaniard explained how both the drivers used to have fun together off the track. “We were having fun that year, I promise. We had a lot of fun out of the track. In the track, we were extremely competitive.” said Sainz.

WATCH THIS STORY: McLaren F1 Boss Uses Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo to Highlight Major Flaws With Red Bull Racing

Carlos Sainz is surely one of the best drivers in F1. Currently, he stands at P5 whereas his ex-teammate has already won the 2022 championship. Sainz will definitely look to use Ferrari’s next year’s challenger to show the world his actual potential.