The win at Silverstone is currently the greatest success Carlos Sainz has achieved after an established career that started with a visit to a GP when he was a child
Carlos Sainz became the 112th winner of a Formula 1 Grand Prix at Silverstone, culminating in one of the great moments of his sporting career, the biggest to date. After months of taking it seriously, victory in the British GP allows him to continue on an upward trajectory that, with ups and downs, aims very high.
These are some of the milestones that have marked his sports career to date:
Carlos Sainz was only 7 years old when his father, the legendary two-time World Rally Champion, took him to Montmeló to see the Spanish GP live. There he met Fernando Alonso, his idol, and told his father that he wanted to emulate him.
It had to be right at Silverstone where he first got into a single-seater in Formula 1. He did it in a Toro Rosso and a Red Bull that Sebastian Vettel was driving at the time, in the young driver’s tests, and raised many eyebrows at the achieved times very close to those of the then three-time world champion. Vettel himself asked about the telemetry he was carrying.
After a rather discreet career in single-seaters, which as in almost all cases in karting began in 2008, it was not until 2014 that he conquered the Formula Renault 3.5, the old World Series. Four years earlier he had joined the Red Bull structure, which had already given him the chance to debut in F1, but it was only when he won the championship (over another Red Bull youth squad, Pierre Gasly) that they gave him the chance to make the jump.
Although he had been asking for a move for a few years, it wasn’t until 2015 when Carlos Sainz was confirmed as a Formula 1 driver with the Toro Rosso team. Next to him ‘a certain’ Max Verstappen. In his first race in the Grand Circus, the GP of Russia, he achieved a handsome 9th position, his first points.
All drivers know what it’s like to have major accidents, and the first serious one Sainz had was in the third free practice session of the Russian GP in his debut year. The man from Madrid lost control of his car and ended up literally embedded in the guardrail at the end of the straight. He was not heard from for a few moments, until they took him out and he gave him a thumbs up.
The presence of Max Verstappen by his side was hard on him during his time at Toro Rosso, especially when he saw the Dutchman immediately promoted to Red Bull. Unable to give much more of himself in the youth team, he was transferred to Renault for a season in which he shared a team with Daniel Ricciardo, another ‘victim’ of Verstappen’s rise.
His reliable year at Renault confirmed Sainz is a perfect replacement for Fernando Alonso, who also recommended him, to McLaren. In the Woking team, he got off to a slow start (it wasn’t until the third race when he scored first), but little by little he established himself as the leader of a team that wanted to resurface. With Lando Norris, he forged not only a great sports couple, but also a great friendship that continues to this day.
Carlos Sainz was unable to celebrate his first podium in Formula 1 with the rest of the drivers as it was confirmed hours after the end of the race. The Madrid man was boosted to third in the 2019 Brazilian GP after Lewis Hamilton was penalized for throwing Alex Albon off the track.
The following year, at the Italian GP, he fought until the last meters with Pierre Gasly for the win, but settled for 2nd place. They were his two best results at McLaren.
While the world was paralyzed by the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, Carlos Sainz was confirmed as Ferrari driver in the next campaign. He came to replace Sebastian Vettel himself. It was quite a challenge for the man from Madrid, but he lived up to expectations: four podium finishes, including a 2nd in Monaco, the first drawer with the Scuderia, completed all races and his teammate Charles Leclerc (very few) for World Cup Points Table.
The milestone in Carlos Sainz’s career for now came in the 2022 British GP. After a more than reasonable start in which he chained two podiums in a row, he gave up on two other occasions and doubts began to arise. With a Leclerc as a title contender, the jump for Verstappen (and, to a lesser extent, Pérez) as Ferrari’s great rival, put Sainz in a very complex and highly criticized position. The pole position, achieved in the rain, and especially the win at Silverstone confirmed him as one of the tough candidates to fight.
After releasing the pressure to achieve his first famous success with the elite, the Spanish pilot must gain confidence and move on. For starters, this weekend he faces the challenge of proving at the Austrian Grand Prix that his win at Silverstone is not a flash in the pan. He has already convinced himself that he can compete one-on-one against the best as long as he has a good car and therefore can even contest the lead in Ferrari against Monegasque Leclerc. The next and immediate chapter will shine on the Red Bull Ring circuit.
Source: La Verdad
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