Some may call me biased for writing this. I probably am. I'm also stating a clear fact; Carlos Sainz is the most underrated driver in recent F1 history. Unfortunately, his talent and race craft has been overlooked by a very small handful, of what some may call "controversial," social media incidents. But it's time to look past that and see the Spaniard for what he really is; a very talented Formula One racing driver.
Carlos Sainz was born in Madrid in September 1994 to famous double World Rally Champion; Carlos Sainz. Coming from a motor sport background, it was inevitable that Carlos Jnr would, in some way, follow in his father's footsteps into the world of racing.
Winning his first karting championship in 2008, it wasn't long until Carlos was scouted by the Red Bull Junior Team thus making his 2010 debut in single seaters. His first championship winning year came in 2011 after he won the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup. The following year he contested in British Formula 3 before moving to GP3, a support series to Formula One, in 2013. That year's GP3 title went to Carlos' teammate; Daniil Kvyat whereas after a torrid season where he was regularly compared to then Formula One driver; Pastor Maldonado, Carlos finished in 10th. Daniil then went on to debut in Formula One the following season. For Carlos, he went back to the Formula Renault family for 2014 where he greatly redeemed himself by winning that years Formula Renault 3.5 championship thus earning himself a place on the Formula One grid for 2015. This is where our story truly begins.
Carlos Sainz made his Formula One debut with the then Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 Team in Australia 2015 alongside the highly anticipated Max Verstappen. He qualified and finished the race in the top ten. After a crash in Free Practice 3 at the Russian Grand Prix, Carlos finished his first Formula One season in 15th position in the championship. His teammate
Verstappen finished 12th.
Both drivers continued to be teammates at Toro Rosso for the 2016 season and in the early part of the season, before Max moved to the sister team; Red Bull, they matched and pushed each other on track to the maximum. But, unfortunately for Carlos, he was overlooked for that potential move to Red Bull. One that caused a lot of out-cry and controversy in the Red Bull family. Instead, Carlos continued on at Toro Rosso with ex-GP3 teammate; Daniill Kvyat. Carlos would finish this season in 12th with 46 points, outscoring Daniill by 21 points.
Carlos went on to contest a third year at Toro Rosso in 2017 with a career best race finish; P4 at the Sinagpore Grand Prix. He also managed to again outscore Kvyat by finishing in 9th in the championship compared to Kvyat's 19th. It should be noted however, that Kvyat was replaced by Pierre Gasly towards the end of this season. Also, Carlos himself moved to Renault at the USA Grand Prix of this year where he out-qualified new team mate; Nico Hulkenberg and finished the race in 7th. Combining his points from Toro Rosso and Renault for this year, Carlos finished 9th in the World Driver's Championship, Carlos' best race season in Formula One to date.
It's fair to say that Carlos never had an easy start in Formula One. He was overshadowed by a younger talent that had been highly anticipated in this sport. He was also plagued with reliability issues with the car. Despite this, Carlos did what he could and has been Verstappen's closest teammate, pace wise, to date. Something that has always been overlooked and very rarely mentioned. I generally feel as if Carlos had no choice but to move to another team. With Verstappen as the lead driver at Red Bull Racing and with rumours that he (Verstappen) and his father had a big influence on any future teammates, Carlos' chances at moving to the senior team were slim. He needed to prove himself elsewhere, hence continuing on with Renault for the 2018 season.
Carlos' time at Renault started off positively, however, despite this he was constantly out-paced by teammate Hulkenberg. He scored in thirteen out of the nineteen races held in 2018 and finished the season in 10th, 3 places behind Hulkenberg. In my opinion this has been Carlos' hardest season to date and was less than impressive compared to his time at Toro Rosso. Carlos was replaced at Renault for the following season in 2019 by Daniel Ricciardo who was leaving Red Bull Racing. At the end of this year, he (Carlos) also left the Red Bull family for good by signing with McLaren for 2019.
Carlos had an interesting start to his time at McLaren with several DNFs and incidents. However, things soon took a turn for the better where he scored consistently in races and was often classed as "better than the rest." After a maiden podium at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, Carlos finished the season in 6th, doubling his points from his previous best season in 2017 and out scoring new teammate; rookie, Lando Norris. Ironically, he was fighting for the position against two other drivers; Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon, both of who had driven for Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen that season.
Moving onto 2020, Carlos would stay with McLaren. This would also be Carlos' most successful full Formula One season to date including a career best qualifying of 3rd at the Styrian Grand Prix and a career best race finish of 2nd at the Italian Grand Prix, finishing only 0.4 seconds behind race winner; Pierre Gasly. Carlos and teammate; Lando Norris were extremely close on track and consistently pushed each other. However, Carlos eventually came out on top by finishing the World Driver's Championship in 6th compared to Lando's 9th. Carlos also managed numerous career highs during this season including 105 points earned in one season and 6 top-five race finishes also gained in one season.
Carlos really flourished during his time at McLaren. With being the more experienced driver in the team and having a teammate that consistently pushed him to the limit, I think Carlos proved he meant business in Formula One and the prestigious and historic team; Scuderia Ferrari obviously agreed after managing to snatch Carlos from McLaren for the 2021 season. This would be a move that would really test Carlos and his abilities. Was he the real deal or just a number two driver?
At the time of writing this piece, we are nine races into the 2021 Formula One season. Carlos has so far scored in seven out of the nine races, one of these being a 2nd place in Monaco. He also currently sits in 7th in the championship; one place and two points behind highly talented and regarded teammate; Charles Leclerc. For the first time, I feel as if Carlos is finally getting the recognition he deserves with numerous people praising his ability to adapt to his new team and car quickly and smoothly as well as consistently matching teammate Leclerc.
It's fair to say that the journey Carlos has been hasn't been the smoothest and as with many other drivers, points don't always prove someone's talent. Look at George Russell, for example. But, I think we have learnt that despite an up and down career, Carlos is extremely overlooked as a racing driver. Its time more people enjoyed watching him drive racing cars. I, for one, look forward to a "Carlos masterclass" every race weekend and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for Carlos. Fans of motorsport should not be writing out Spaniard off just yet. That's for sure.
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