Carlos Sainz has been in the Formula 1 limelight for most of this season, more than he perhaps would’ve wanted in terms of ‘bad news’ but there is ‘good news’ for the popular Spanish driver who tipped his hat to his father’s invaluable advice and support in a pre-summer break . In terms of bad news for Sainz, the decision by Ferrari to replace him with Lewis Hamilton in 2025, keeping Charles Leclerc at Maranello, was a shocker to all. Be sure to Carlos as well.
It was a very early confirmation that has loomed over the team ever since. Then that appendix mishap which meant he sat out the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Then came the good news, including that remarkable bounce back from a hospital bed and is the stuff of legend.
With his future secure with Williams for the next two years, Sainz owes a great deal to his father, rally legend Carlos Sainz Senior who is his beacon on many levels: “I am very influenced by my father. His perspective and his opinion because in the end, he is my mentor, my manager, my father, my friend, he is my everything.” Sainz: My father told me, when I was 12, in racing you either bite or you get bitten “So obviously I am influenced, but I think I also have that character that leads me to try to be a team player, as far as possible, in a very tough, very intense sport, where you have to be selfish.
I have always tried to separate the two things, selfishness and aggression on the track,” he explained. Carlos recalled: “Since then, and that is what you were referring to, on the track I try to be as aggressive as possible. Then off the track, I try to behave well in front of the brands and the teams and be a gentleman off it, which is always my intention.
Sometimes you achieve it and sometimes it is more difficult. Remarkably Sainz Senior won this year’s gruelling Dakar Rally for Audi, his son said of the occasion: “I’ve never enjoyed a victory more than my father’s this year in the Dakar, especially because I had the chance to surprise him by being there when he crossed the finish line. “I think that as a family, it’s one of the most beautiful moments we’ve had.
I went with my mother too and it was incredible. It seems like he doesn’t give up and that he’s going to try again,” revealed Carlos Jr. What about the sacrifices to be racing at the highest level in F1? Asked about the sacrifices made by the Sainz family, and he himself racing at the highest level for so many years, Carlos replied: “To be honest, I don’t see it as a sacrifice.
I don’t like the word sacrifice because I see it as something you don’t feel like doing or something you have to stop doing, to sacrifice.” “I see it as a very aggressive word for what we, as drivers or athletes, do. In the end, I see it more as an investment.
I have invested in what I am now. I have invested my time, and my effort, I have invested in my training, I have gone to training instead of going to parties, and I have gone to the simulator instead of staying at home resting. I see it as an investment to become the driver I am now and I don’t see it as a sacrifice because I think I’m lucky and I’ve been lucky to be able to dedicate myself since I was little to what I like the most, to what I find most fun in the world, which is going to races, being with racing people, smelling tyres, gasoline.
“And therefore, nothing I’ve done and invested in until now I’ve seen as a sacrifice, but rather as an investment to become a better athlete and a better driver now,” ventured the , who on 1 September, the day of the Italian Grand Prix, will turn 30..
