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. 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. 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.