Carlos Sainz’s future may lie away from Ferrari after the shock announcement that Lewis Hamilton will join the Scuderia in 2025, but the 29-year-old Spaniard will be eager to prove his worth to potential future employers in the 2024 season.
With three seasons at Ferrari under his belt and a respectable record against the highly-rated Charles Leclerc, Sainz still finds himself as 66/1 outsider despite being the only non-Red Bull driver to win a Grand Prix in 2023.
Born | 1st September, 1994 |
Age | 29 |
Birthplace | Madrid, Spain |
F1 current team | Scuderia Ferrari |
F1 previous team(s) | McLaren, Renault, Toro Rosso |
F1 debut | 2015 Australian Grand Prix |
F1 titles | 0 |
F1 2024 odds | 66/1 |
Carlos Sainz was signed to the Red Bull Junior Drivers program in 2010 and picked up championships in the 2011 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC and the 2013 Formula Renault 3.5 Series before his promotion to Formula One in 2015.
He spent his first two-and-a-half seasons at Scuderia Toro Rosso, with the first of these seeing the young Spaniard paired with the even younger Max Verstappen before the future three-time World Drivers' Championship winner was promoted to Red Bull Racing.
Their time together was not all plain sailing, however, as the pair battled for recognition in the form of a promotion to Red Bull. Verstappen ultimately won that war, winning the points battle by 49-18 and earning a Red Bull seat early in the 2016 season.
Multiple reports, including that of Red Bull's Helmut Marko, state that the pair's relationship became toxic and the involvement of both drivers' fathers, ex-Formula One driver Jos Verstappen and two-time world rally champion Carlos Sainz Snr, made the situation borderline untenable and eventually forced Red Bull to allow Sainz to leave the team and move to Renault in the latter stages of the 2017 season.
After replacing Jolyon Palmer in the Renault for the final four races of the 2017 season, Carlos Sainz endured a tumultuous and brief spell at Renault.
He was forced to retire from two of his first four races for the French team and was outscored 69-53 by teammate Nico Hulkenberg the following year, prompting Renault to replace Sainz with Daniel Ricciardo for the 2019 season.
Fortunately for Sainz, his potential earned him a spot at McLaren as he replaced the outgoing Fernando Alonso to drive alongside Lando Norris in what would become a very fruitful two-year partnership for the papaya team.
His two seasons at McLaren saw him beat teammate Lando Norris on both occasions, scoring 201 points to Norris' 146 over this period and attracting the attention of every Formula One driver's dream team - Ferrari.
Sainz signed a two-year contract and replaced Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari for the 2021 season, taking his first podium for the team at the Monaco Grand Prix and narrowly winning the teammate battle with the highly-rated Charles Leclerc in his first season with the Prancing Horse.
Sainz's first win in Formula One came in his 150th race start at the British Grand Prix, a day after he claimed his maiden pole position. However, it was a disappointing 2022 for the Spaniard as he was comfortably beaten by Leclerc, although his performance was good enough to earn him a one-year contract extension.
2023 saw Sainz narrow the gap to his teammate, only losing out by six points and being the only non-Red Bull driver to win a Grand Prix.
Despite this, the imminent arrival of Lewis Hamilton will put an end to Sainz's career at Ferrari after the 2024 season and leave the 29-year-old on the lookout for a new team, with a potential reunion with Max Verstappen at Red Bull not out of the question.
Carlos Sainz's net worth is reported to be around $49 million, with his $10 million per year salary with Ferrari contributing a significant portion of this figure.
Carlos Sainz is a clear outsider at 66/1 for the 2024 World Drivers' Championship, with teammate Charles Leclerc priced at 20/1.
Sainz is 9/4 to beat his teammate across the season and 5/6 to beat fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso, while he is 8/11 to repeat his feat in 2023 and win a Grand Prix.
Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.