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Carlos Sainz Jr.

Sainz in 2018.
Born	Carlos Sainz Vázquez de Castro (1994-09-01) 1 September 1994 (age 23) Madrid, Spain
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Spanish
2018 team	Renault[1]
Car number	55
Entries	72 (72 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	148
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2015 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry	2018 Hungarian Grand Prix
2017 position	9th (54 pts)
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  audio (help·info), known as Carlos Sainz Jr.  audio (help·info) or simply Carlos Sainz, (born 1 September 1994) is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and the son of former double World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz.^[2][3] In 2012 Sainz raced in the British and European Formula 3 championships for Carlin.^[4] He raced for DAMS in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2014 winning the championship before moving to F1 with Toro Rosso. In 2017 it was announced that for the 2018 season he will race for the Renault F1 team on a season long loan, whilst still contracted to Red Bull Racing. An early fulfilment of this arrangement was announced during the 2017 Japanese Grand Prix weekend; Sainz would take Jolyon Palmer's Renault seat beginning with the 2017 United States Grand Prix.^[5] Sainz will drive for McLaren starting in 2019, replacing fellow countryman Fernando Alonso.

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.^[6] In 2009 he won the prestigious Junior Monaco Kart Cup, and was runner-up in the European KF3 Championship.^[6]

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 début 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. Doctor Helmut Marko applauded Sainz and his strong start to a great career in motor racing. He came 7th in the following race but yet again amazed everybody 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. This denied anyone who thought he was only good at the Malaysian track. He missed the Japanese races but shortly 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 in that series 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 lowly 7th and 10th place to take 18 points out of the possible 60 which Jack Harvey took to lead the championship. 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 bar 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 Euroseries Formula 3 championships. He won five races and finished nine times on the podium, scoring a pole position, in the British championship, finishing in sixth position. He just scored two podiums and two pole positions in the Euroseries championship, in the first venue, 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 went not 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 Jr managed to get up to 13th place gaining two places 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. Carlos 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 Jr 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 an amazing 6 places to find himself in 9th place. As they approached lap 2, the safety car was deployed due to an accident behind. This gave Sainz crucial time to save his tyres and to make sure that they did not fall of the cliff as they did in the previous race. Thanks to Yelloly getting a tap from a car from behind and getting spun round at the final chicane, Sainz was up to 8th place with 5 laps. During the next lap, he managed to put a brilliant move on Jack Harvey's ART car to move up into 7th place. As Sainz looked like he was going to try to brake late round the outside, Harvey moved to block him but Sainz moved across to sell him the classic 'Dummy' move and instead he sent it up the inside to complete the move. With 2 laps to go, Tio Ellinas' tyres were going off just like Sainz' was in race 1. This caused all cars ahead of him to bunch up but he failed to get past and remained in 7th place by the time he crossed the line to pass the chequered flag in 7th place to earn 2 GP3 world championship points. However, post race scrutineering revealed the Sainz' car was underweight and so he was disqualified from the final results from race 2. He ended up scoring no points during what was a difficult weekend for not only Sainz but for his Red Bull Junior teammate Kvyat who retired during the race due to contact with another driver.

In the Valencia qualifying session for race 1, Sainz qualified in 8th place, yet again setting a lap time 5 tenths off the pole sitter. As the race got underway, he made some great moves to move up into 5th place by the first sector. He remained in that position right till the end of the race to remain 4 seconds behind the winner. 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 and finished on the podium for the first time. Before the weekend, Sainz had not got 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. In qualifying for race 1, he managed to qualify in 5th place, this time only 3 tenths off the pole sitters time. But he was squeezed off wide and had to concede a few places to end up in 9th place. By mid distance, it was all looking good and it looked even better when he managed to overtake Williamson to get into 8th place. This meant that he was on course to get pole for race 2. However this was short lived as Williamson got past him at Maggotts corner. Coming through the Wellington straight with only 2 laps to go, Williamson had the speed to pull 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 on 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. He finished the season in 19th place with 22 points.

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.

Formula One

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

Toro Rosso (2015–2017)

Sainz at the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix

Sainz was announced to test with both Red Bull and Toro Rosso teams during the Young Drivers' test in Silverstone.^[7] On 28 November 2014, it was announced that he would drive for Scuderia Toro Rosso in the 2015 season.^[8] He partnered Max Verstappen at Toro Rosso, in 2015, following Daniil Kvyat's promotion to Red Bull.^[8] 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.^[9] 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.^[10] In the USA he went to finish 7th which was his last points of the year. He finished 15th in his first season with Toro Rosso.

2016 season

He finished 9th in Australia, following a retirement in Bahrain. In China, he again finished 9th. Following no points in Russia, he finished 6th in Spain, 8th in Monaco and 9th in Canada before not finishing in Baku. He then went on to record 3 8th places in Austria, Britain and Hungary. He later had a streak of no points until the USA, where he finished in 6th place, he did not score any points in Mexico, another 6th place in Brazil and no points in Abu Dhabi. He finished 12th in the driver standings with 46 points.

2017 season

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 and 14th in Monza.
At the Malaysian Grand Prix, he retired due to an engine problem while driving alongside Pierre Gasly, who replaced Kvyat for the weekend.^[11] He retired from the Japanese Grand Prix as well, after a crash.^{[citation needed]}

Renault (2017–2018)

Sainz during testing in 2018

During the weekend of the Singapore Grand Prix, in which he finished in 4th position, it was announced that he would leave Toro Rosso to race for Renault in 2018,^[12] but during the 2017 Japanese Grand Prix weekend, it was announced that Sainz would replace Jolyon Palmer and partner Nico Hülkenberg at Renault beginning with the 2017 United States Grand Prix, 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.

2018 season

Sainz had a positive start to the 2018 season scoring in five of the first six races but he finished behind his team mate Nico Hülkenberg in each of the four races they both finished.

McLaren (2019–)

On 16 August 2018, it was announced that Sainz will be racing for McLaren from 2019.^[13]

Racing record

Career summary

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

Complete Formula 3 Euroseries results

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

* Sainz was a guest driver, ineligible for points.

† 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)

* Season still in progress.

References

External links

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

• 
  Official website (in Spanish)
  


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  Carlos Sainz Jr. on Twitter


• 
  Carlos Sainz Jr. career summary at DriverDB.com