Carlos Sainz Jr.

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.[9] In 2009 he won the prestigious Junior Monaco Kart Cup, and was runner-up in the European KF3 Championship.[9]

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 was 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 was followed by a 4th place. On the following race day, he retired in the first race but won the second race. It was this impressive start that 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 exceeded expectations by winning again. He missed the next races in China but came back to Singapore. He finished 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 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.

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.

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 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.

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 to 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 Nürburgring 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

Sainz became part of the Red Bull Junior Team in 2010.[10] His first experience in a Formula One car came at the young drivers' test at Silverstone Circuit in July 2013, where he drove both the Toro Rosso STR8 and the Red Bull RB9.[11][12] Sainz confirmed that discussions had taken place with the struggling Caterham team for a race debut during the 2014 season but ultimately no agreement was reached.[13] As a reward for his Formula Renault 3.5 Series title, Sainz drove the Red Bull RB10 in the post-season test after the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.[14]

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.[15] Sainz selected 55 as his race number. He qualified inside the top ten for his début, the Australian Grand Prix, and finished the race in ninth position.[16] He scored points again at the Malaysian Grand Prix, but failed to score at the Chinese Grand Prix after spinning and then retired from the Bahrain Grand Prix with a wheel issue. He qualified fifth at the Spanish Grand Prix, his highest grid position of the year, and finished the race ninth. He was forced to start the Monaco Grand Prix from the pit lane after failing to attend the weigh-bridge during qualifying. He recovered to tenth place in the race.

Four consecutive retirements began with electrical failures at the Austrian and British Grands Prix, then a fuel pressure issue at the Hungarian Grand Prix and a power unit issue at the Belgian Grand Prix. A 150 km/h and 46 g impact into the barriers during practice for the Russian Grand Prix resulted in Sainz spending the night in hospital.[17] He missed qualifying but was declared fit to race, however he failed to finish after a brake failure.[18] He crashed in qualifying for the United States Grand Prix and started from last place, but gained ten positions on the first lap and went on to record his best finish of the year with seventh place. Sainz finished his debut season fifteenth in the drivers' championship, scoring 18 of Toro Rosso's 67 points.[19]

Sainz at the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix

Toro Rosso retained Sainz and Verstappen for the 2016 championship. Sainz qualified seventh and finished ninth at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, but retired from the Bahrain Grand Prix due to a collision with Sergio Pérez. After the Russian Grand Prix, Sainz gained a new teammate in Daniil Kvyat as Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull. Three points finishes followed for Sainz, including his best career finish with sixth place at the Spanish Grand Prix and a drive from twentieth to ninth place at the Canadian Grand Prix. After a suspension-related retirement at the European Grand Prix, Sainz recorded three consecutive eighth-place finishes.

A run of six races without points followed, including retirement due to a puncture at the Belgian Grand Prix and a first-lap collision with Nico Hülkenberg at the Singapore Grand Prix having started sixth. Sainz equalled his best race result at the United States Grand Prix with sixth place and scored the same result at the Brazilian Grand Prix after starting fifteenth. He retired from the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix due to a collision with Jolyon Palmer. Sainz ended the season twelfth in the drivers' championship, scoring 46 of Toro Rosso's 63 points.[20]

Sainz at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix

Sainz and Kvyat remained with Toro Rosso for the 2017 season. Sainz scored points in the opening two races, but a collision with Lance Stroll eliminated him from the Bahrain Grand Prix. Both drivers blamed each other for the incident, but Sainz was handed a grid penalty for the next race.[21] Three points finishes followed including sixth place at the Monaco Grand Prix. Sainz was again handed a grid penalty for a first-lap collision with Romain Grosjean and Felipe Massa at the Canadian Grand Prix. Sainz spun on the first lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, attempting to avoid a collision with teammate Kvyat, and recovered to finish eighth.

Prior to the Austrian Grand Prix, Sainz commented that it was "unlikely" he would remain with Toro Rosso for a fourth year.[22] Red Bull team principal Christian Horner rejected this, stating that Sainz would race for Toro Rosso in 2018.[23] Sainz retired from the Austrian Grand Prix with an engine problem and was eliminated on the first lap of the British Grand Prix after a collision with Kvyat. Prior to the Singapore Grand Prix it was announced that Sainz would join Renault for 2018, on loan from Red Bull.[24] He finished the race in a career-best fourth place, in what he described as his "best day in Formula One".[25] He was joined at Toro Rosso by Pierre Gasly for the Malaysian Grand Prix after Kvyat was dropped by the team.[26] Sainz retired from the race due to an engine problem. He crashed in practice for the Japanese Grand Prix and again on the opening lap of the race.[27] At this stage of the season, Sainz had scored 48 of Toro Rosso's 52 points.[28]

Sainz at the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix

Sainz's move to Renault was brought forward and he replaced Jolyon Palmer and partnered Nico Hülkenberg at the team for the final four races of 2017, beginning with the United States Grand Prix where he started and finished seventh. Sainz made his way from eighth to fifth place on the first lap of the Mexican Grand Prix but then spun and had to pit for new tyres. He later retired from the race with steering problems. He failed to finish the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after he was released from a pit stop with a loose wheel. Sainz ended the 2017 season ninth in the drivers' championship, scoring 54 points.

Sainz at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix

Over the first eight races of 2018, Sainz qualified in the top ten at each of them and scored points in all but one, finishing eleventh at the Bahrain Grand Prix. These results included the Azerbaijan Grand Prix where he took advantage of a collision between Red Bull teammates Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo to finish a season-high position of fifth.[29] Sainz described his Monaco Grand Prix as a "disaster" and criticised the team's tyre strategy having started eighth and finished tenth.[30] He had ran in sixth place for much of the French Grand Prix but dropped to eighth place at the finish after his MGU-K failed.[31] Three races without points followed, including a race-ending crash with Romain Grosjean at the British Grand Prix and a penalty for overtaking during safety car conditions at the German Grand Prix.

Sainz scored points at five of the next seven races, including a season's-best qualifying performance of fifth place at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Damage received from contact with Sergey Sirotkin on the first lap of the Russian Grand Prix resulted in a seventeenth-place finish. Battery issues caused Sainz's retirement from the Mexican Grand Prix. He ended the season with a drive from eleventh on the grid to sixth place at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Sainz finished the season tenth in the drivers' championship, three places behind teammate Hülkenberg, scoring 53 of Renault's 122 points. Sainz scored points in thirteen out of the nineteen races he finished.[29][32]

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.[33] 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.

Sainz at pre-season testing in 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 at that time; and finished with his first fastest lap in Formula One and in doing so set a new Red Bull Ring track record.[34]

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.[35] 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.[36] 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, at the time, were both career highs.[37]

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.[38] He qualified and finished in 8th place at the Bahrain Grand Prix.[39] He then continued to qualify 11th at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix to finish in 5th place, catching up his teammate, Charles Leclerc.[40] He took his third career podium and first with Ferrari at the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix.[41] His ability to adapt quickly to Ferrari was widely praised for performances relative to highly regarded teammate Leclerc in the opening races of the season.[42] He achieved a 3rd place podium finish at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix despite finishing in fourth place on track, due to a post-race disqualification for Sebastian Vettel.[43][44] He started the 2021 Russian Grand Prix in 2nd, and overtook former teammate Lando Norris on the first lap, eventually finishing 3rd, to score his third podium for Ferrari. In the last race of the season, the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix he finished in third place, making him fifth in the drivers' championship, ahead of his teammate Leclerc and former teammate Norris.

Sainz qualified third in the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix.[45] Sainz ran in third place until Max Verstappen retired with a mechanical problem. This allowed Sainz to take over second place behind Leclerc, for a Ferrari 1-2 finish to take an early lead in the Constructors Championship.[46] In April 2022, Sainz signed a two-year contract extension that would keep him with Ferrari until the end of the 2024 season.[47]

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

(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.

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

(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.

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

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	22	WDC	Points
2015	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR10	Renault Energy F1‑2015 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
2016	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
2017	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
2018	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
2019	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
2020	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren MCL35	Renault E-Tech 20 1.6 V6 t	AUT 5	STY 9	HUN 9	GBR 13	70A 13	ESP 6	BEL DNS	ITA 2	TUS Ret	RUS Ret	EIF 5	POR 6	EMI 7	TUR 5	BHR 5	SKH 4	ABU 6						6th	105
2021	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	Ferrari SF21	Ferrari 065/6 1.6 V6 t	BHR 8	EMI 5	POR 11	ESP 7	MON 2	AZE 8	FRA 11	STY 6	AUT 5	GBR 6	HUN 3	BEL 10	NED 7	ITA 6	RUS 3	TUR 8	USA 7	MXC 6	SAP 63	QAT 7	SAU 8	ABU 3	5th	164.5
2022	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari F1-75	Ferrari 066/7 1.6 V6 t	BHR 2	SAU 3	AUS Ret	EMI Ret4	MIA	ESP	MON	AZE	CAN	GBR	AUT	FRA	HUN	BEL	NED	ITA	SIN	JPN	USA	MXC	SAP	ABU	5th*	38*

^† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.
^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
* Season still in progress.