Carlos Sainz gives a glimpse of his future

Carlos Sainz was very happy. Happy very happy. Carlos said it himself when he emerged in his Audi RS Q e-Tron as Dakar champion for the fourth time after achieving three historic victories in one fell swoop: as the oldest champion (61 years old), as the first capable win the Dakar with 4 different brands, and as the first to achieve it with a hybrid car, where the wheels are moved by energy coming from two electric motors, one on each axle. A very complex project, “the most difficult of my career,” Carlos admitted to MD two years ago.

At his age, for a lover of combustion engines like him, who has won everything in life, the easiest thing is not to study the Audi project because of its complexity and the enormous novelty it represents. But Carlos wants to learn about software, virtual differences, “science fiction” technology, a car most similar to a spaceship, in the future. He doesn’t want to stay in the past. And he accepted a challenge in which he surely had more to lose than to gain. And he achieved success with the “last bullet” he had, in Audi’s last year in Dakar, fulfilling the 3 years planned for his challenge. Not one, not one less. And now, Carlos will make the decision. Something more difficult than winning a Dakar.

His record is enviable. He made history on many occasions. And no matter what he does, he’s a legend. But there is its inner engine. That of someone who lives next door and for a career. The race makes him ‘eat his nuts’ every day to think about how to improve, they keep forming a bug in his stomach. The question now is whether all the hustle and bustle continues to pay off. He said this before going to Dakar, at an Audi event.

“One day I’ll say it wasn’t worth it, that I couldn’t, that I didn’t find myself fast enough, that I wasn’t having fun. The day I ask myself all these questions and the answer is in a different way than today, on that day I will stay at home and talk without fail,” he commented at the time. “You have to be honest and know if the balance falls on the side of trying again. I have earned the right to have any decision respected: continue on another project, stop or whatever,” he added. And he admitted that “although (so far) it pays, every year it costs more and requires more effort and more work” for his 61 years.

But in Dakar, all the questions that needed to be answered coming home this Saturday were answered by the track. He was happy, he was still the fastest, and he managed an enviable physique in one of the toughest Dakars in memory. Everyone said. But Sainz must decide, and he referred to it at the event organized by Audi for him to celebrate his fourth Dakar victory this Saturday in Madrid. He didn’t say he had made a decision, but he gave good hints as to where the shots would go.

“I always tell Lucas: ‘the day you see that I’m going slow and such…, tell me.’ “But the passport or ID number is important, but the most important are the numbers that appear in the times after a special. That’s the most important thing, it doesn’t matter if you’re 25, 30 or 60. That’s what counts,” he commented.

“I hope, Lucas, that when the time comes, that you’ll be honest with me and tell me: ‘You’re slower than a polo car and we’re going home,'” he said, laughing, looking at his co- pilot.

“There are also people who tell me: ‘It’s time to quit!’ that that day be respected. It’s complicated because when you like someone like me, I really like what I do… and you see that I can still do it… if I’m bored and I see that I’m suffering and I can’t make it there and I’m out “My heart at the end, I’ll say it’s fine. But I don’t feel that. way!” he argued.

“Come on, you’re not going to retire,” a journalist responded. “You might be surprised. But I just ask that that decision be respected,” he said with a laugh after an explanation in which he indicated that he had no plans to leave it.

“No plans yet”

“There are no plans now to hold the world raid championship. Right now it will not happen. In life you can’t say, but we finished the Dakar yesterday and now there are no plans,” he argued, making it clear that he wants to first he will focus on celebrating success and assimilating all that has happened.

“The first thing I want is to enjoy the success a little bit. Sometimes when you finish one challenge and you have another one, you don’t enjoy it. It’s great and I like to set myself challenges but like I want to enjoy these days, the victory. There are many days of great tension, like the Dakar. And we will rest a little and I am sure that in two days I will think differently. But now I want to enjoy success. The future? No “Nothing. I haven’t thought of anything yet. I want to enjoy now and have time to think,” he added.

“I think I will be competitive all my life. I don’t think it will go away. The day I don’t care if I win or lose, what I will do is stop running because if you can’t fight, that day that you stay at home. Actually, before Going to Dakar… I had a pretty strong imagination and that imagination helped me imagine things that I was lucky enough to accomplish. Life is lived from those dreams, which motivate you to work and reach the conditions,” he concluded.

Dreams? I was so focused on winning at Audi, that I had to invent something new. Let’s see if I dreamed something new tonight,” said Sainz, who, when asked about possible offers from other brands in Dakar, asked again, to let him enjoy himself. He should look in the mirror and ask himself those questions again . But the races keep fueling him . There is no better track than that .