In the second part of our new series we will have a look on the effect of Carlos Sainz in his professional career so far.
SUCCESS IN JUNIORS SERIES
In year 2010 Sainz got to the world of professional motorsport. That time he was racing in series of Formula BMW and earned the fourth place. In the next year he moved on to the European Formula Renault and to the Northeuropean Formula Renault. In the first case it was second place, but he ruled the second mentioned series. Next series, in which Carlos operated the upcoming series were British Formula 3, European Formula 3 series and European Formula 3 which belongs under National motorsport federation (FIA). Carlos didn’t achieve significant success here, but won few times. In year 2013 he moved to the GP3 series, where he earned one victory and two podiums. Overall he ended tenth. He had great next season. In the series Formula Renault 3.5 he earned 7 victories and ruled the whole series.Thanks to that his gate to the world of F1 opened, and he was hired by Red Bull in their B class team, Torro Rosso.
TOUGH FIRST SEASON IN F1
The beginning of season was for Carlos Sainz great. In the first two GP’s in Australia and Malaysia he was able to earn points. He had same amount of points as his 17 years old team colleague Max Verstappen. Questioning was, who will be better. Carlos earned points on his home track in Spain and in Monaco, but he fell out of next four GP’s. On the othet side, Verstappen was earning points and he flashed in Hungary, where he was fourth. After summer brake Sainz scored three times – in Singapore, Japan and in USA. Overall he earned 18 points and ended on 15th place in championship. Verstappen earned up to 49 points, so he totally outclassed Sainz.
WALKOUT OF VERSTAPPEN TO RED BULL – ENVY OR BIGGER MOTIVATION?
In the beginning of year 2016 driving group wasn’t changed. However, everything changed after the GP of Russia. Red Bull wasn’t delighted about his driver Daniil Kvyat and they decided to move him to Toro Rosso, next to Carlos Sainz. Max Verstappen was put on his place. Sainz was jealous about his previous team colleague for sure, but it became more motivating. In the beginning of season, when Verstappen was his team colleague, Carlos Sainz scored twice. But in Spain, after his walkout Sainz ended on sixth place, which was his best result in his carreer so far. Happiness was much bigger, because it happened on his home track. In the first half of season he was regularly scoring and beating Kvyat. In the second half the form of Toro Rosso went down, but Carlos was able to get solid results in Brasil and USA. It was sixth place in both cases. In the end of season he had 46 points and ended on 12th place.He clearly beat his team colleague Daniil Kvyat, who earned just 4 points in Toro Rosso.
FOR HOSTING TO RED BULL
In year 2017 Carlos continued in Torro Rosso and it was his best season in B class team of Red Bull. He scored regularly and he ended on the fourth place in Singapour. Earned 48 points, while Kvyat has earned just 4 (he earned one more after walkout of Sainz). But that’s not the end. After Japanese GP, Red Bull sent Carlos Sainz for hosting to Renault. He was supposed to go there in year 2018, but Renault asked Red Bull, to replace Jolyon Palmer by Carlos earlier in 2017. Palmer has scored just once, what wasn’t enough and the leadership of french team realized, that if they want to be sixth in constructeer’s cup, they will have to replace their british driver. Carlos ended on seventh place in his first race in yellow suit, which were in the USA. He also beat his new team colleague Nico Hulkenberg. Unfortunately, it was his last time ending in top 10 in 2017, if he wasn’t so unlucky he would win more. Even though he helped Renault with his 6 points to end on sixth place in constructeer’s cup. In the next season they were starting from down below and everyone was curious how will Nico Hulkenberg vs Carlos Sainz fight end. Both drivers were regularly earning points, but the german driver had more of them. After summer break has Hulkenberg made few mistakes and Sainz has got in better form. He didn’t beat Hulkenberg, but they both got Renault on fourth place. Not even that kept Sainz in Renault and he had to search for new seat during summer break. In the end he signed contract with McLaren and became new team colleague of Lando Norris.
THE FANTASTIC PHASE WITH MCLAREN
McLaren needed after another failed season to go to front. In the second race of this season in Bahrain, has McLaren already pointed on how succesful this season could be. But Carlos’s tire was flat after colision with Max Verstappen and he dropped down to the last place of starting field, in the end he decided to quit the race. It’s a pity, because it could be sixth place. In the end Lando Norris took it, and brought first points for Mclaren in that season. Carlos wanted to score his first points too and he managed to do that in Azerbaian. He finished seventh and this moment kicked him hard to start. He scored in every singel race except GP of Canada until summer break. McLaren has showed up as the best in rest of the world. In top 10 has Carlos appeared on seventh, sixth and also on fifth place. In Austria he showed great comeback and after starting in the bottom of starting grid he ended on pretty good eight place. In points he was doing much better than Norris, but for young Briton it was his first season in the queen of motorsport and we also have to admit, that he was unlucky too. Carlos and Lando, this duo was entertaining fans of F1 whole season. You can look up some of their jokes on Youtube. The situation after summer break wasn’t so ideal for Sainz. He dropped twice of three races and once he ended on twelveth place, but we can’t blame him. In the first case his car betrayed him, in the second mechanics made a mistake in boxes and in the third it was colision with Nico Hulkenberg, where he was shot by German. But later he ran away and in Japan and Russia he was sixth and fifth. He scored three times until the end of the year, but what happend in Brasil was incredible. Carlos had problem with car during qualification so he didn’t even drive one lap. So that means he had to start from the bottom of starting grid . But many favorites dropped out of race and Carlos took the chance. He finished fourth, but after the race commissioners gave 5 second penalty to Lewis Hamilton and he lost his third place. So Carlos earned his first podium – after starting from the last place! Unbelievable! Even though he couldn’t enjoy normal podium ceremony, joy of his first throphy wasn’t destroyed. After the official statement of FIA whole team went immediately on podium and celebrated. It has been the first podium for McLaren since GP of Australia 2014. In year 2020 during the coronacrisis had Carlos Sainz signed contract with Ferrari for 2 years, starting in 2021. He definitelly earned this place after performances in McLaren.
CARLOS SAINZ – STATS
Date of birth: 1.9.1994, Spain (Madrid)
Grand Prix entered: 108
Podiums: 1
Wins: 0
Pole positions: 0
Titles: 0
Straight for F1 