Carlos Sainz Jr.

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Carlos Sainz Jr.

Sainz in 2021
Born	Carlos Sainz Vázquez de Castro (1994-09-01) 1 September 1994 (age 26) Madrid, Spain
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Spanish
2021 team	Ferrari[1]
Car number	55
Entries	130 (129 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	4
Career points	455
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	1
First entry	2015 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry	2021 Hungarian Grand Prix
2020 position	6th (105 pts)
Signature
Website	Official website
Previous series
2013–14 2013 2012 2012 2011 2010–11 2010 2010	Formula Renault 3.5 Series GP3 Series FIA European F3 Championship British Formula 3 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula BMW Europe Formula BMW Pacific
Championship titles
2014 2011	Formula Renault 3.5 Series Formula Renault 2.0 NEC

Carlos Sainz Vázquez de Castro (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkaɾlos ˈsajnθ ˈβaθkeθ ðe ˈkastɾo] (listen); born 1 September 1994), otherwise known as Carlos Sainz Jr. (pronounced [ˈkaɾlos ˈsainθ ˈʝunjoɾ] (listen)) or simply Carlos Sainz, is a Spanish racing driver competing in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. He is the son of Carlos Sainz, a double World Rally Champion, and the nephew of rally driver  [es].^[2][3][4][5] In 2012 Sainz raced in the British and European Formula 3 championships for Carlin.^[6] He raced for DAMS in the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 season, winning the championship before moving to F1 with Toro Rosso.

Sainz moved to McLaren for the 2019 season, while at the same time ending his contract with Red Bull Racing. At the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix Sainz took his maiden Formula One podium finish with third. Sainz added another podium by finishing second at Monza the following year before departing for Ferrari at the end of that season. Sainz scored his third and fourth podiums by finishing second at the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix and then third at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, both for Scuderia Ferrari.

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.^[7] In 2009 he won the prestigious Junior Monaco Kart Cup, and was runner-up in the European KF3 Championship.^[7]

Formula BMW[]

Sainz during Race 1 of the 2010 Formula BMW Pacific season at Sepang International Circuit

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 Euro Series Formula 3 championships. Racing for Carlin, he won four races, finished nine times on the podium, as well as scoring a pole position in the British championship, finishing sixth overall in the final championship standings. He scored two podiums and two pole positions in the Euro Series championship, finishing in ninth position overall.

GP3[]

Sainz competing for MW Arden during the 2013 GP3 Series, at Spa-Francorchamps

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 did not go 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, giving Sainz time to save his tyres. With 5 laps remaining, Sainz was up to 8th place. During the next lap, he managed to put a move on Jack Harvey's ART car to move up into 7th place. Sainz eventually would finish in 7th place. However, post race investigating revealed the Sainz's car was underweight, and so he was disqualified from the final results from race 2, thus scoring no points during what was a difficult weekend for not only Sainz, but for his teammate, Kvyat, who retired during the race due to contact with another driver.

In Valencia, Sainz began, and finished, the race in 8th place. 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, scoring a podium for the first time in GP3. Before the weekend, Sainz had not tallied 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. During the first race, Sainz was squeezed off track, falling to 9th place. By mid distance, it was all looking good and it looked even better when he managed to overtake Lewis 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 competing for DAMS during the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series, at the Nürburgring. He took the fifth of seven victories during the 2014 season at the Nürburgring, en route to the championship title.

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.

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.

Sainz driving for Red Bull at the Young Driver Test at Silverstone in July 2013

Formula One[]

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Test Driver for Toro Rosso and Red Bull (2013)[]

In 2013, Sainz also announced as a test driver for both Red Bull and Toro Rosso for as part of the Young Drivers' Test at Silverstone.^[8]

Toro Rosso (2015–2017)[]

2015 season

Sainz at the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix

Sainz drove for Scuderia Toro Rosso in the 2015 season where he partnered Max Verstappen, following Daniil Kvyat's promotion to Red Bull.^[9] 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.^[10] 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.^[11] 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.^[12]

2016 season

Sainz at the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix

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.^[13]

2017 season

Sainz at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix

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.^[14] He retired from the Japanese Grand Prix as well, after a crash.^[15]

Renault (2017–2018)[]

Sainz at the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix

Sainz moved to Renault beginning with the 2017 United States Grand Prix where he replaced Jolyon Palmer and partnered Nico Hülkenberg at Renault, 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 at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix

Sainz had a positive start to the 2018 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.^[16] 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.^[16][17]

McLaren (2019–2020)[]

2019 season

Sainz at the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix

Sainz moved to McLaren for the 2019 season, replacing Fernando Alonso, who had retired following the 2018 season and partnering Lando Norris.^[18] After an unlucky pointless start to the season due to reliability issues at the Australian Grand Prix 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. He fought for sixth place in the drivers' championship with Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon, who both spent part of the season in a much faster Red Bull. At the Brazilian Grand Prix, 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 season

Sainz in 2020, during pre-season testing

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.^[19]

At the British Grand Prix, he suffered a tyre puncture on the penultimate lap while he was running comfortably fourth and at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, he was forced to start outside the top ten because of an overheating issue hampering his qualifying pace. His race was not helped by a wheel gun malfunction during his pitstop, finishing in thirteenth. He could also not start the Belgian Grand Prix due to a power unit issue on a reconnaissance lap.^[20] At the following race (the Italian Grand Prix) he qualified third behind the dominant Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Bottas. He went on to finish second, his career best race finish and second podium, finishing 0.4 seconds behind race winner Pierre Gasly, and a maiden win.^[21] Sainz finished the 2020 season in 6th place of the driver's championship for the second consecutive year. He accumulated 105 points and 6 top-5 finishes which were both career highs.^{[citation needed]}

Ferrari (2021–)[]

Sainz at the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix

Sainz joined Scuderia Ferrari on a two-year contract from the 2021 season partnering Charles Leclerc and replacing Sebastian Vettel.^[22] He qualified and finished in 8th place at the Bahrain Grand Prix. ^[23] He then continued to qualify 11th at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix to finish in 5th place, catching up his teammate, Charles Leclerc.^[24] He took his third career podium and first with Ferrari at the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix.^[25] Sainz's ability to adapt quickly to Ferrari has been widely praised for performances relative to highly regarded team mate Leclerc in the opening races of the season.^[26]

Racing record[]

Racing career summary[]

^† As Sainz was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series[]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete GP3 Series results[]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results[]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete Formula One results[]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicates fastest lap)

^† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.
* Season still in progress.

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carlos Sainz, Jr..

• Official website (in Spanish)
• Carlos Sainz Jr. on Twitter
• Carlos Sainz Jr. career summary at DriverDB.com