Carlos Sainz Jr.

**Carlos Sainz Vázquez de Castro** otherwise known as **Carlos Sainz Jr.** or simply **Carlos Sainz**, (born 1 September 1994) 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 Antonio Sainz. 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 F1.5 with Toro Rosso.

Sainz moved to McLaren for the 2019 season, to replace Fernando Alonso, who had left the spott while at the same time ending his contract with Red Bull Racing. In 2021, he moved to Ferrari to partner Charles Leclerc

## F1.5 Career

### **Toro Rosso (2015-2017)**

#### **2015 Season**

Sainz drove for Scuderia Toro Rosso in the 2015 season where 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 sixth 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 4th which was his best finishing position of the year He finished 10th in his first season with Toro Rosso with 82 points.

#### **2016 Season**

He finished 5th at the Australian Grand Prix, followed by a retirement at the Bahrain Grand Prix. At the Chinese Grand Prix, he acheived his maiden podium in F1.5 finishing third. At Russia he went on to finish 8th followed by a new personal best of 2nd at Spain. Carlos then acheived a 4th place finsh at Monaco, followed by third at Canada making it his third podium in 5 races. The European Grand Prix was held at Baku but Carlos did not see the end of the race. For the next 2 races at Silverstone and Austria, Carlos finished 3rd. At Hungary, Carlos took his maiden pole postion in Formula 1.5, however in the race he finished 2nd, making it 3 podiums in a row and 4 podiums in 5 races. Carlos did not stand on the podium again until the American Grand Prix, even though he did start from pole at Singapore. At the USA he finished 2nd, followed by 10th in Mexico and 2nd again in Brazil. Carlos did not finish the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Carlos finished 6th in the standings with 175 points.

#### **2017 Season**

Sainz started off the season with 3rd 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 won the race, taking his first win in the formula. 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 5th. In Spain he finished 4th, before finishing 1st again at the Monaco GP after starting from pole. 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 4th in Baku before finishing 2nd 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 5th at Spa, 8h in Monza and then winning 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)**

#### **2017 Season**

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 2nd 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. He retired from Mexico with a steering issue after a spin, although this did not matter mutch as he was running last. He went on to fnish 5th at Brazil and DNF at Abu Dhabi. Carlos finished the season in 4th with 184 points.

#### **2018 Season**

Carlos had a good season, scoring in every race he finished excpet from one. Carlos scored 5 podiums within the first 8 races of the season, however for the most part he was out-scored by teammate Nico Hulkenberg. Carlos acheived one win during the 2018 season, at Abu Dhabi. Carlos also acheived 2 pole positions, at France and Hungary. He finished the season on 235 points in second place. Teammate Nico Hulkenberg won the Drivers Championship, outscoring Carlos by 5 points.

### **McLaren (2019-2020)**

#### **2019 Season**

Sainz moved to McLaren for the 2019 season, replacing Fernando Alonso, who had retired following the 2018 season. Carlos had a troubled start to the season, retiring from Australia with technichal issues and then again in Bahrain from collisions. He got his first points for the team in China, finishing 8th. After China, Sainz was consistant and strong finishing on the podium in 8 of the 9 next races. In Azerbaijan and Spain, Carlos finished 2nd whilst at Monaco he won his first grand prix for McLaren, also taking his 2nd Monaco GP win. Things didn't go so great in Canada finishing fith place, but at the next race at France Carlos took another win but this time he also took the fastest lap. After this Carlos finished 2nd at Austria, winning at Britain, third in Germany and winning at Hungary, for the 4th time in the season so far.

After the summer break at Belgium, he retired early on with more technichal issues, then at the next race in Italy, Sainz reitred due to a loose wheel in the pitstops. Singapore came next, where the Spaniard took his first pole position for the McLaren team, however he dropped down the field to 6th. Carlos started the next four races on pole to make a 5 race pole streak. At Russia and Japan, Carlos won both races followed by a 7th place finish in Mexico. Carlos then finished third in America, and 2nd in Brazil to wrap up and win his first Formula 1.5 Championship. At the final race fo the season, Carlos finished 4th place. Carlos won the Drivers Championship with ease on 294 points, ahead of 2nd place Sergio Perez by 50 points.

#### **2020 Season**

Sainz began the season with a third place followed by a fith place at the Austrian and Styrian Grands Prix. He started the latter on pole, in tricky qualifying conditions. Carlos was leading the British Grand Prix before a puncture forced him back down the field to eventually finish the race in 9th place. He also finished the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix in 9th due to qualifying problems and also a wheel gun issue at the pitstop. At the next race in Spain, he took his 2nd podium of the season with a third-place finish. He could also not start the Belgian Grand Prix due to a power unit issue on a reconnaissance lap. At the next race in Italy, McLaren were leading 1-2 until a Safety Car was brought out followed by a red flag which put them down the order. Carlos fought back through to take 2nd place, narrowly missing out on the win by under a second. Carlos then failed to finish the next two races due to collisions at both races. At Germany and Portugal, Carlos came home third to make it 4 podiums in the season. Carlos secured two more podiums over the season with 2nd place finishes at Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, both of which were McLaren 1-2's lead by Lando Norris. Carlos finished the season in 5th place on 174 points, behind his teammate Lando by 2 places and 25 points.

### Ferrari (2021)

#### 2021 Season

Sainz joined Ferrari for the 2021 season, leaving McLaren after two years. The first round of the season in Bahrain, was a steady but good start for Sainz, finishing the race fourth. The next race at Imola would see Sainz come home third in a wet-dry thriller to take his first podium in red, whilst teammate Leclerc finished second. At this point of the season, though only two rounds in, it looked to be a close fight between Sainz and Ricciardo for third in the championship. After the first two rounds they were equal on points. Round 3 saw Carlos take his first pole position for Ferrari, but the race fell apart finishing a lowly 7th place. In his home race, it was another podium finishing third, whilst Leclerc took the win.

At Monaco, Sainz lined up second on the grid, but with Leclerc not starting the race, it was a clear track ahead. Carlos would go on to win the race, his first for Ferrari and first since 2019. He would also go on to take the fastest lap point. Sainz moved up to third in the championship. In Azerbaijan, Sainz finished 7th again, just like Portugal. This time it was down to driver error, when he locked up in the castle section and went into the run off area, costing him many positions.

Sainz would go on to win races later on in the season at Russia and Abu Dhabi. After Ferrari introduced a new hybrid system, the team scored more podiums late in the season which allowed Sainz to holme in on the championship leader Lando Norris. The title fight went to the final race however Sainz missed out by just nine points on his second world title. Teammate Leclerc finished the season third in the standings just 4 points further back. Ferrari did win the constructors in 2021 though, to stop McLaren from matching a record equaling 3 consecutive constructor championships.