Carlos Sainz Jr.
Carlos Sainz Vázquez de Castro, known as Carlos Sainz Jr. or simply Carlos Sainz, is a Spanish racing driver currently racing in Formula One for McLaren. He is the son of double World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz. His uncle was also a rally driver. In 2012 Sainz raced in the British and European Formula 3 championships for Carlin. He raced for DAMS in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2014 winning the championship before moving to F1 with Toro Rosso.
Sainz moved to McLaren for the 2019 season, to replace Fernando Alonso, who had left F1 while at the same time ending his contract with Red Bull Racing. At the Sainz took his maiden Formula One podium finish with third. Sainz has signed with Ferrari to drive in 2021 to replace Sebastian Vettel.
Career
Karting
Born in Madrid, Sainz began his career in karting. In 2008 he won the Asia-Pacific KF3 title, as well as finishing runner-up in the Spanish Championship. In 2009 he won the prestigious Junior Monaco Kart Cup, and was runner-up in the European KF3 Championship.Formula BMW
Sainz raced in Formula BMW Europe in 2010 with the EuroInternational team. He is also part of the Red Bull Junior Team programme. He made his Formula BMW debut during a guest drive in the Formula BMW Pacific series at Sepang. Because he was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points, however his first races in Malaysia went very well, as he managed to get second place at the opening race. That impressive debut followed with 4th place. On the following race day, he retired in the first race but won the second race. It was this impressive start which got him a place at the Red Bull Junior Team. Helmut Marko applauded Sainz and his strong start in motor racing. He finished 7th in the following race but again amazed everyone by winning again. He missed the next races in China but came back in Singapore. He finished in 6th in the first race and 2nd in the second race. He missed the Japanese races but returned to the season finale in Macau to win. Overall, in 9 races he achieved 3 pole positions, 2 wins and 2 fastest laps.In Formula BMW Europe, he started his career with a podium position of 3rd and 6th place at the Circuit de Catalunya. At Zandvoort, he took 5th and 2nd place. At Valencia he scored a 7th and 10th place. A weekend at Silverstone saw him take 3rd place and a victory in the following race, his first that season. Hockenheim saw him take 11th and 6th place. A 4th and a podium position of 3rd enlightened his championship hopes but Robin Frijns was on a charge, scoring a podium position in every race but 3, two he finished in 4th. A double retirement at Spa put an end to his championship dreams. An 8th and 6th at the season finale at Monza followed. He finished the season 4th with 227 points.
Sainz also competed in the UK Formula Renault Winter Cup, finishing 6th in the first race and retiring from the second race at Snetterton.
Formula Three
During the 2012 season, Sainz raced in both British and Euroseries Formula 3 championships. He won five races and finished nine times on the podium, scoring a pole position, in the British championship, finishing in sixth position. He just scored two podiums and two pole positions in the Euroseries championship, in the first venue, finishing in ninth position overall.GP3
In 2013, Sainz signed with Arden to compete in the GP3 series. Most Red Bull Racing Juniors race for Arden as it is co-owned by Red Bull boss Christian Horner and driver Mark Webber. His first race weekend in the series went not as expected. During the first qualifying session of the year, he managed to qualify in 5th place and was only 5 tenths off pole sitter Kevin Korjus. However, he as well as Alex Fontana and Patrick Kujala were penalised 10 places for ignoring yellow flags during free practice. During the beginning of race one Sainz managed to get up to 13th place by passing Alex Fontana and Jimmy Eriksson off the start. By the start of lap 3, he was already 13 seconds behind the leader however this was due to him being stuck in traffic. Sainz had made it all the way up to 8th place with his teammate Daniil Kvyat until both cars lacked grip. Because they were both pushing to get into the top ten for points, neither driver decided to manage their Pirelli tryes and so by the end of the race, Kvyat was 20th and Sainz managed to get 15th place and so effectively he never gained or lost any positions. However, worryingly for him he finished 51 seconds off first placed man Tio Ellinas. Sainz started in 15th place for race 2 on Sunday morning. At the end of lap 1 he managed to gain 6 places to find himself in 9th place. As they approached lap 2, the safety car was deployed due to an accident behind. This gave Sainz time to save his tyres and to make sure that they did not fall of the cliff as they did in the previous race. Thanks to Yelloly getting a tap from a car from behind and getting spun round at the final chicane, Sainz was up to 8th place with 5 laps. During the next lap, he managed to put a move on Jack Harvey's ART car to move up into 7th place. With 2 laps to go, Tio Ellinas' tyres were going off just like Sainz' was in race 1. This caused all cars ahead of him to bunch up but he failed to get past and remained in 7th place by the time he crossed the finish line. However, post race scrutineering revealed the Sainz's car was underweight and so he was disqualified from the final results from race 2. He ended up scoring no points during what was a difficult weekend for not only Sainz but for his Red Bull Junior teammate Kvyat who retired during the race due to contact with another driver.In the Valencia qualifying session for race 1, Sainz qualified in 8th place, yet again setting a lap time 5 tenths off the pole sitter. As the race got underway, he had moved into 5th place by the first sector. He remained in that position right till the end of the race to remain 4 seconds behind the winner. In race 2, he started in 4th place and managed to get up into 3rd place by the end of lap 1. He remained in that position and finished on the podium for the first time. Before the weekend, Sainz had not got any championship points. By the time the weekend was over, Sainz had managed to obtain 24 world championship points, 4 for fastest laps in both races. He was now in 6th place in the championship and was looking healthy in the title fight.
It was another bad weekend for Sainz at Silverstone as in both races he got poor results. In qualifying for race 1, he managed to qualify in 5th place, this time only 3 tenths off the pole sitters time. But he was squeezed off wide and had to concede a few places to end up in 9th place. By mid distance, it was all looking good and it looked even better when he managed to overtake Williamson to get into 8th place. Williamson then moved alongside Sainz to try and overtake but Sainz kept moving over towards him until there was contact. Williamson was sent into a spin whilst Sainz continued to circulate round the track. Due to the damage to his car, Sainz fell down the order until he crossed the finish line in 13th place. In race 2, he finished where he started, in 13th place.
Formula Renault 3.5
Sainz raced in Formula Renault 3.5 for the first time in 2013. However, because he was more focused on GP3 at the time he missed several races in his first season. In Monaco he was 6th was after a difficult start to his GP3 season. He had a double retirement in Spa. He missed the Moscow and Austria races but returned at Hungary to take 7th place in Race 1 but 22nd in race 2 after a few problems. In France, at the Circuit de Paul Ricard he had another double retirement. In the last race weekend of the year in Catulunya, he retired in race 1 but managed to score 6th place. He finished the season in 19th place with 22 points.In 2014, he switched teams to DAMS. In the season opener at Monza he finished 18th in the first race but won the second. He left Monza with 25 points, beating his previous seasons score by 3 points. Another win at Aragon meant he doubled his score and in race 2, he finished in 4th. Another 4th place followed at the one race in Monaco. The weekend at Spa followed with another 2 wins. Moscow followed and he did not perform well. 14th and 6th meant that he only took 8 points from a possible 50. At the Nurburgring Gp Circuit, he won race 1 but in race 2, he retired. In Hungary, he was no match for Roberto Merhi who led by half a minute from the rest of the field in the wet. Another 6th place followed in race 2. In France, he won and scored a total of 50 points to extend his championship lead over Merhi.
Formula One
Sainz was announced to test with both Red Bull and Toro Rosso teams during the Young Drivers' test at Silverstone.Toro Rosso (2015–2017)
On 28 November 2014, it was announced that he would drive for Scuderia Toro Rosso in the season. He partnered Max Verstappen at Toro Rosso, in 2015, following Daniil Kvyat's promotion to Red Bull. Sainz selected 55 as his race number. He qualified inside the top ten for his début, at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, and finished the race in ninth position. In the third free practice session of the 2015 Russian Grand Prix, Sainz lost control of his car going into turn 13 of the Sochi Autodrom, hit a wall and went on to crash into the Tecpro barriers. After spending a night in hospital, he was allowed to race the next day but did not finish the race. In the United States Grand Prix he went to finish 7th which was his last points finish of the year. He finished 15th in his first season with Toro Rosso.;2016 season
He finished 9th at the Australian Grand Prix, followed by a retirement at the Bahrain Grand Prix. At the Chinese Grand Prix, he again finished 9th. Following no points at the Russian Grand Prix, he finished 6th at the Spanish Grand Prix, 8th at the Monaco Grand Prix and 9th at the Canadian Grand Prix before not finishing at the European Grand Prix. He then went on to record three 8th places in at the Austrian, British and Hungarian Grands Prix. He later had a streak of no points until the United States Grand Prix, where he finished in 6th place, he did not score any points at the Mexican Grand Prix, got another 6th place at the Brazilian Grand Prix and no points at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. At the end of the season, he finished 12th in the driver standings with a total of 46 points.
;2017 season
Sainz started off the season with 7th in Australia. In China, he made the boldest move in the field to be the only one on the dry tyres. It worked and he finished 8th. He did not finish in Bahrain after colliding with Lance Stroll when he was coming out of the pits which resulted in a three place grid penalty at the next race, the Russian Grand Prix, where he went on to finish 10th. In Spain, he once again finished 7th before his current season best with 6th place in Monaco by holding off Lewis Hamilton. He did not finish in Canada, where he was involved in a first lap clash with Romain Grosjean which took out Felipe Massa. He finished 8th in Baku before finishing 7th in Hungary after not finishing in the points in Austria and retiring in Great Britain due to a collision with his teammate. He finished in 10th at Spa, 14th in Monza and then 4th in Singapore. At the Malaysian Grand Prix, he retired due to an engine problem while driving alongside Pierre Gasly, who had replaced Kvyat for the weekend. He retired from the Japanese Grand Prix as well, after a crash.
Renault (2017–2018)
On 7 October 2017, it was announced that Sainz would replace Jolyon Palmer and partner Nico Hülkenberg at Renault beginning with the 2017 United States Grand Prix, with Kvyat returning to Toro Rosso to take his old place. In his first race for Renault, Sainz finished the race in 7th and outqualified Nico Hülkenberg, a feat Jolyon Palmer failed to do throughout the year, although it meant very little as Hülkenberg opted not to post a lap time in Q2 due to his impending grid penalties. A less impressive performance followed at the next race in Mexico. He qualified 9th, three and a half tenths down on Hülkenberg in 8th, and started the race in 7th following Ricciardo's engine penalties. After the first lap, he found himself in 5th place, behind Hülkenberg, after championship contenders Vettel and Hamilton collided at the start of the race. However, Sainz spun in the high speed section of the track and flat-spotted his tyres and was forced to pit and came out in 19th place, with only the damaged and delayed Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton behind. He would remain at the tail-end of the field until he retired from the race with steering problems. He would not finish in the points for the rest of the season.He finished the season in 9th place, a career-high, with his points total combined from his time at Toro Rosso and Renault.
;2018 season
Sainz had a positive start to the season scoring in five of the first six races but he finished behind his teammate Nico Hülkenberg in each of the four races they both finished. In Azerbaijan Sainz finished in a season high position of fifth. He would finish the season in tenth place on 53 points, 3 places and 16 points behind teammate Hülkenberg scoring points in 13 races out of the 19 races he finished.
McLaren (2019–2020)
;2019On 16 August 2018, it was announced that Sainz would be racing for McLaren for the season, replacing Fernando Alonso, who had retired following the season. After an unlucky pointless start to the season due to reliability issues at the and being involved in collisions at the Bahrain and Chinese Grands Prix, Sainz consistently scored points thereafter, often finishing strongly as the best of the rest behind the top three teams. At the, Sainz was initially classified 4th, having started in 20th and last place following an engine problem in qualifying, but was elevated to 3rd after Lewis Hamilton received a penalty for causing a collision with Alexander Albon, earning Sainz his first podium in Formula One. Sainz has nearly doubled his points total from his previous best season, 2017. At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Sainz managed to pass Hülkenberg on the final lap to take 10th place, scoring a point that earned him 6th place in the drivers' championship at the end of the year.
;2020
Sainz began the season with a fifth place followed by a ninth place at the Austrian and Styrian Grands Prix. At the latter, he qualified in third, his best career qualifying result; and finished with his first fastest lap in Formula One and in doing so set a new Red Bull Ring track record.
Ferrari (2021–)
Sainz is set to join Scuderia Ferrari on a two-year contract from the season partnering Charles Leclerc and replacing Sebastian Vettel.Racing record
Career summary
† Sainz was a guest driver, ineligible for points.Complete Formula 3 Euro Series
| Year | Entrant | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | Points | |
| 2011 | Signature | Volkswagen | LEC 1 | LEC 2 | LEC 3 | HOC 1 | HOC 2 | HOC 3 | ZAN 1 | ZAN 2 | ZAN 3 | RBR 1 | RBR 2 | RBR 3 | NOR 1 | NOR 2 | NOR 3 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | NÜR 3 | SIL 1 | SIL 2 | SIL 3 | VAL 1 | VAL 2 | VAL 3 | HOC 1 Ret | HOC 2 Ret | HOC 3 5 | NC* | N/A |
| 2012 | Carlin | Volkswagen | HOC 1 2 | HOC 2 5 | HOC 3 2 | BRH 1 4 | BRH 2 6 | BRH 3 4 | RBR 1 16† | RBR 2 7 | RBR 3 5 | NOR 1 Ret | NOR 2 25† | NOR 3 19 | NÜR 1 7 | NÜR 2 15 | NÜR 3 10 | ZAN 1 11 | ZAN 2 9 | ZAN 3 5 | VAL 1 Ret | VAL 2 10 | VAL 3 6 | HOC 1 Ret | HOC 2 13 | HOC 3 11 | 9th | 112 |
† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
Complete GP3 Series results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Points | |
| 2013 | MW Arden | CAT FEA 15 | CAT SPR DSQ | VAL FEA 5 | VAL SPR 3 | SIL FEA 13 | SIL SPR 13 | NÜR FEA 6 | NÜR SPR 5 | HUN FEA 5 | HUN SPR 2 | SPA FEA Ret | SPA SPR 13 | MNZ FEA 9 | MNZ SPR 9 | YMC FEA DSQ | YMC SPR 18 | 10th | 66 |
Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Points | |
| 2013 | Zeta Corse | MNZ 1 | MNZ 2 | ALC 1 | ALC 2 | MON 1 6 | SPA 1 Ret | SPA 2 18† | MSC 1 | MSC 2 | RBR 1 | RBR 2 | HUN 1 7 | HUN 2 22 | LEC 1 16† | LEC 2 Ret | CAT 1 Ret | CAT 2 6 | 19th | 22 |
| 2014 | DAMS | MNZ 1 18 | MNZ 2 1 | ALC 1 1 | ALC 2 4 | MON 1 4 | SPA 1 1 | SPA 2 1 | MSC 1 14 | MSC 2 6 | NÜR 1 1 | NÜR 2 Ret | HUN 1 4 | HUN 2 6 | LEC 1 1 | LEC 2 1 | JER 1 15 | JER 2 11 | 1st | 227 |
Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.
Complete Formula One results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | Points | |
| Scuderia Toro Rosso | Toro Rosso STR10 | Renault Energy F12015 1.6 V6 t | AUS 9 | MAL 8 | CHN 13 | BHR Ret | ESP 9 | MON 10 | CAN 12 | AUT Ret | GBR Ret | HUN Ret | BEL Ret | ITA 11 | SIN 9 | JPN 10 | RUS Ret | USA 7 | MEX 13 | BRA Ret | ABU 11 | 15th | 18 | |||
| Scuderia Toro Rosso | Toro Rosso STR11 | Ferrari 060 1.6 V6 t | AUS 9 | BHR Ret | CHN 9 | RUS 12 | ESP 6 | MON 8 | CAN 9 | EUR Ret | AUT 8 | GBR 8 | HUN 8 | GER 14 | BEL Ret | ITA 15 | SIN 14 | MAL 11 | JPN 17 | USA 6 | MEX 16 | BRA 6 | ABU Ret | 12th | 46 | |
| Scuderia Toro Rosso | Toro Rosso STR12 | Toro Rosso 1.6 V6 t | AUS 8 | CHN 7 | BHR Ret | RUS 10 | ESP 7 | MON 6 | CAN Ret | AZE 8 | AUT Ret | GBR Ret | HUN 7 | BEL 10 | ITA 14 | SIN 4 | MAL Ret | JPN Ret | 9th | 54 | ||||||
| Renault Sport F1 Team | Renault R.S.17 | Renault R.E.17 1.6 V6 t | USA 7 | MEX Ret | BRA 11 | ABU Ret | 9th | 54 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Renault Sport F1 Team | Renault R.S.18 | Renault R.E.18 1.6 V6 t | AUS 10 | BHR 11 | CHN 9 | AZE 5 | ESP 7 | MON 10 | CAN 8 | FRA 8 | AUT 12 | GBR Ret | GER 12 | HUN 9 | BEL 11 | ITA 8 | SIN 8 | RUS 17 | JPN 10 | USA 7 | MEX Ret | BRA 12 | ABU 6 | 10th | 53 | |
| McLaren F1 Team | McLaren MCL34 | Renault E-Tech 19 1.6 V6 t | AUS Ret | BHR 19† | CHN 14 | AZE 7 | ESP 8 | MON 6 | CAN 11 | FRA 6 | AUT 8 | GBR 6 | GER 5 | HUN 5 | BEL Ret | ITA Ret | SIN 12 | RUS 6 | JPN 5 | MEX 13 | USA 8 | BRA 3 | ABU 10 | 6th | 96 | |
| McLaren F1 Team | McLaren MCL35 | Renault E-Tech 20 1.6 V6 t | AUT 5 | STY 9 | HUN 9 | GBR | 70A | ESP | BEL | ITA | TUS | RUS | EIF | POR | EMI | 9th* | 15* |
Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.