Toto Wolff has followed in Christian Horner’s wheel-tracks by naming Carlos Sainz as a contender for a top race seat in 2025.
Despite being the only driver to have beaten a Red Bull in the past two seasons, the Spanish driver is still officially unemployed for next year.
According to F1 legend Hans-Joachim Stuck, that’s an astonishing fact.
"I still wonder why Ferrari would dismiss a driver like him," the 73-year-old told Eurosport. "Frederic Vasseur should be angry to have made that decision.
"I will never understand the switch from Sainz to (Lewis) Hamilton."
Horner, the Red Bull team boss, admitted in Melbourne - where Sainz won despite still recovering from appendicitis and surgery - that the 29-year-old is in the running to replace Sergio Perez next year.
Stuck thinks it would be the perfect seat for Sainz.
"It would make Max have to accelerate even more, which he can certainly do," said the German motor racing legend. "I’m sure Max would sleep worse if he knew that Sainz is going to be his new teammate."
However, it is Fernando Alonso’s name who is now being most loudly linked to Red Bull for 2025, given that Daniel Ricciardo is struggling and Yuki Tsunoda is not considered a top candidate.
"Tsunoda must improve even more if he can be considered," Dr Helmut Marko insisted this week.
Alonso is also linked to Mercedes for 2025, although team boss Wolff openly admits that Max Verstappen would be his top pick if he’s available.
But Wolff, tasked with replacing the Ferrari-bound Hamilton, has now named Sainz as well.
"For all the drivers who are considered for this cockpit, there are good reasons why their signing would make sense for us - whether they are very young or very mature," he said, obviously referring to his own protege Kimi Antonelli, 17, as well as the ’very mature’ 42-year-old Alonso.
"Also Carlos Sainz," Wolff added.
However, the major German newspaper Bild says it "knows" that Wolff is only really considering Verstappen and Alonso.
Sainz’s famous father Carlos Sainz snr, a rallying legend and this year’s Dakar winner, has been at the grands prix this year and often spotted in conversation with team bosses - including Wolff recently at Jeddah.
Sainz snr, 61, told the Spanish broadcaster DAZN that his son’s victory in Melbourne "comes at a good time".
"Right now it is being decided where to race next year, with whom, and I hope he will have the opportunity to drive for a team that allows him to compete for victories," he said.