Carlos Sainz: Profile, Championships, Racing Style & more

One of the smoothest operators on the grid, 2025 marks Carlos Sainz's 11th season in Formula 1 and the Spanish sensation will be representing Williams.

Date of Birth	1st September 1994
Current team	Williams
Previous team(s)	Toro Rosso, Renault, McLaren, Ferrari
F1 Debut	2015 Australian Grand Prix
F1 World Championships	0

Carlos Sainz career so far

Biography

Carlos Sainz Jr. was born into a successful motor racing family as his father, Carlos Sainz Sr, was the World rally champion in both 1990 and 1992.

He was born in Madrid and has lived in the Spanish capital, London and Monaco.

Journey to F1

Sainz began karting aged 12 and won the Asia-Pacific Championship in 2008 and the Monaco Kart Cup the following year.

He moved to single-seater cars in 2010 and raced in Formula BMW before winning the Formula Renault Northern European Cup series in 2011.

He moved on to British Formula 3, GP3 and Formula Renault 3.5, winning that prestigious championship with the DAMS team in 2014, beating fellow F1 driver Pierre Gasly into second place.

F1 career to date

Toro Rosso

Sainz made his F1 debut with the Toro Rosso team in the same race as his younger team-mate Max Verstappen.

He finished ninth in the Australian Grand Prix and scored points in four of his first six races, ending the season 15th in the championship with 18 points and a best finish of seventh.

He was 12th with 46 points the following year and recorded his best finish of fourth place in the Singapore Grand Prix shortly before making a mid-season move to Renault.

Renault

Sainz was seventh on his Renault debut in the United States and finished the 2017 season ninth in the standings with 54 points. He was 10th the following year before moving again to join McLaren.

McLaren

Sainz finished sixth in the championship in each of his two seasons with McLaren, forming a popular partnership with Lando Norris and picking up his first podium finish at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix.

He went one better the following season when finishing second in the Italian Grand Prix, but then moved on once more after getting the opportunity to join Ferrari.

Ferrari

Sainz spent four seasons at Ferrari alongside Charles Leclerc, finishing fifth in the championship three times and seventh in 2023.

After four podium finishes in his first season with the Scuderia, he secured his first career win at the 2022 British Grand Prix. 

He won in Singapore in 2023 and in Australia and Mexico in the 2024 season, which was overshadowed by the knowledge that seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton would be replacing him at the end of the year. 

After being pursued by several teams, Sainz opted to make the improving Williams team his next stop.

Carlos Sainz best races

Sainz's first win came in an incident-packed Silverstone race filled with safety-car periods, but he used all his racing nous for his Singapore success in 2023.

Chased hard by Norris and both Mercedes after leading from pole, he shrewdly allowed the McLaren to get close enough to benefit from DRS, shielding him from the faster George Russell and Hamilton in the closing laps.

His Mexican Grand Prix success last season was also impressive as he overtook Verstappen on lap nine after losing out to the world champion when starting on pole and he held the lead for a comfortable victory. 

Verstappen retired from the Australian Grand Prix which Sainz won, but that was a fantastic physical effort by the Spanish driver, who had missed the previous race due to an appendectomy.

Carlos Sainz best season

Sainz scored 290 points in the 2024 season with two race wins, two second places and five third-place finishes.

Carlos Sainz nationality

Where is Carlos Sainz from?

Sainz was born in Madrid and is Spanish.

Carlos Sainz net worth

Carlos Sainz's net worth is estimated to be around £40 million.

Carlos Sainz racing style

Sainz is famous for singing the Sade song Smooth Operator in the cockpit after successful races and that became his anthem for good reason.

The Spaniard has a smooth driving style that is kind to his car's tyres and explains why he often gets better results in races than qualifying.

He prefers a rear-biased balance and an understeering car set-up, which is in contrast to his long-time Ferrari colleague Leclerc.

Sainz likes to brake late and hard into corners, sacrificing apex speed in order to facilitate a faster exit.

Thoughts on Sainz's racing style

I think everybody knows Carlos’ worth in the paddock. He’s one of the highest-rated drivers in the paddock and he’s been extremely strong every time he was in a Formula 1 car. He has showed it multiple times.

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari driver)

When you’ve worked with him, you know what he’s capable of doing. When things click, they click very well.

Lando Norris (McLaren driver)

Sainz was unlucky to have Verstappen as a team-mate. The atmosphere between the two was quite toxic. He’s a great driver but having them together didn’t work for us back then.

Helmut Marko (Red Bull chief)