Carlos Sainz - A Man on a Mission On the 1st of February 2024, the Formula 1 community imploded with the news that Sir Lewis Hamilton would be joining Scuderia Ferrari for the 2025 season. With Charles Leclerc having already announced his contract extension in January, it meant that Carlos Sainz would be the one to leave. With his future in Formula 1 on the line, Carlos knows he needs to perform to his best ability to attract attention from other teams, and that is exactly what he has been doing. Bahrain We arrived in Bahrain for the first race of the season. Max Verstappen took pole position, closely followed by Carlos’ teammate Leclerc in second. Carlos on the other hand, would start the race in 4th position, behind George Russell in a Mercedes. In the early stages of the race, it was clear that Charles Leclerc seemed to be having some sort of problems with handling his Ferrari. Russell had managed to pass him with the use of DRS and with a helping hand from Leclerc who had a huge lockup, which then left him as a sitting duck waiting for Perez behind to strike. Once Perez’s Red Bull flew past Leclerc, Carlos was on the team radio telling them that he was “faster than the guys in front”. This meant that Carlos breezed past Charles with ease, putting him into 4th. The order at the front remained the same until the first pit stops of the race. Carlos decided to hold fire until lap 15, where he came out just behind Perez, Russell, and Leclerc, but with fresher tyres, he would soon catch the latter two.
The race would end with Verstappen taking home the win, followed by Perez, making it a Red Bull 1-2. Sainz took home the third and final podium position, which was the best possible way to start his season, considering how fast and unbeatable the Red Bulls seemed to be. Saudi Arabia Disaster struck for Sainz when we reached the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. After struggling through the Friday free practice sessions, it was confirmed on the Saturday that Carlos was having surgery following his diagnosis of appendicitis, and would be replaced by Ferrari Academy Driver Oliver Bearman. The timing of this couldn’t be worse for Carlos, but he was keen to make a speedy recovery and was even in the paddock for the race on Sunday. Bearman, only 18 years old, even thanked Sainz for coaching him through the race on the team radio, having finished 7th and in the points on his Formula 1 debut. This race was a major setback in Carlos’ 2024 campaign but he was determined to come back even stronger in Australia. Australia Just two weeks after his surgery, Ferrari announced that Carlos would be racing in the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park. A lot of fans were concerned about this, as he still wasn’t even walking properly when strolling through the paddock, but he quickly dismissed any naysayers. Carlos managed to qualify in P2, beating both his teammate and Perez in the other Red Bull, with Verstappen on Pole, of course. This put him in a great position for the race on Sunday. Here in the UK, the start time for the GP was 4 am, but let me tell you, it was worth waking up for. Carlos didn’t manage to get Verstappen off the start, but the Red Bull was having issues, struggling to break away from the pack. By the second lap, Sainz was able to make a move and take the lead of the race. Verstappen’s problems would continue as smoke was appearing from the rear of his car. This led to his first retirement from a race in two years. With Max’s retirement, Carlos now had the perfect opportunity to convert this into the first non-Red Bull win since he broke their streak back in Singapore in 2023. Although we were still in the very early stages of the race, things were looking promising for the Spaniard, especially considering by lap ten, he had built up a strong three-second lead from the rest of the pack. Sainz didn’t pit until lap 16, where he came out just a couple of seconds behind Alonso, on the hard compound tyre, but the grid quickly had to come together for a virtual safety car, caused by Lewis Hamilton pulling over on the side of the track, reporting an engine failure. After climbing his way back through the pack and into the lead, Carlos made his final stop on lap 55, opting for the soft compound. After the final few cars ahead of Carlos pitted for the final time, Sainz was in the lead for the final laps of the race.
After a late crash from George Russell, Carlos managed to bring home the victory, followed by Charles Leclerc two-and-a-half seconds behind him, for the first Ferrari 1-2 since Bahrain 2022. Lando Norris claimed the final podium position for McLaren. Carlos handled this race to perfection. After coming back from such a drastic surgery and being able to perform the way he did was just incredible to see. His strategy calls, tyre management, his overtakes, everything was done to perfection and he certainly deserved this win. Japan Carlos seemed to keep the momentum going as we got to Japan for the fourth race of the season. Qualifying in fourth position, he was well within reach for a podium, so long as he played his cards right. At the start of the race, Albon and Ricciardo collided resulting in an immediate red flag whilst the marshalls cleared the track. The collision left both drivers out of the race. Not a lot of anything happened when the race resumed, with the front runner staying in formation, with Verstappen having gained a three-second lead from his teammate by this time, so it was business as usual over at Red Bull. Sainz quickly noticed that Norris ahead was struggling with his tyre degradation, which meant the McLaren driver was the first of the front runners to make his pit stop, changing his medium tyres to hard. Carlos took this opportunity to close down the gap to the Red Bulls, managing to make his tyres last an extra couple of laps, before also eventually pitting, along with Perez. On the hard compound tyre, the Ferrari seemed to come alive, picking off both Mercedes cars, meaning he occupied fifth position, with a couple of drivers ahead of him still yet to make a stop, including his Ferrari teammate, Leclerc, who was opting for a one-stop strategy in comparison to Carlos’ plans for a two-stop race. Charles managed to make his tyres last until lap 26, however, by the time lap 36 came around, Carlos was ready to make his second and final stop of the race, opting for another set of new hard tyres. Sainz was not the only one to stop with almost all of the front runners choosing to pit around this lap too. Once these pits were done, Carlos was in 5th but quickly managed to overtake Norris, who suffered from a lock-up. He was then promptly told on team radio that he had “one more to go for the podium” and Charles received a message urging him “not to lose” fighting with his teammate who was fast approaching. The Ferraris swapped positions on lap 46 of the race. The order would stay the same at the front until the end of the race, so we had yet another Red Bull 1-2 with Sainz taking home third. This means that so far, Carlos has a 100% podium record for the races he has been in this season, and is the only driver to do so.
Future Prospects After having seen how Sainz is performing so far this year, you would imagine that lots of teams would be interested in the driver. Carlos Sainz seems to be in his team and any team would be lucky to have him. There are currently openings in almost all of the teams on the grid, but I imagine what would be most attractive to the Spaniard, are the seats available at Red Bull and Mercedes. If he went to Mercedes, it would be a direct swap for the drivers, as he would be replacing Hamilton and working alongside Russell. If he were to be offered a seat at Red Bull, it would make a lot of sense. Carlos started his career at Red Bull’s sister team, known at the time as Toro Rosso. He raced alongside Max Verstappen so they already have a great rapport as teammates and I’m sure they would both slip back into that dynamic with ease. One of the main things that is talked about surrounding Sainz’s future, is the fact that Audi is joining the grid in 2026. Carlos Sainz Sr already has ties to the team due to his career as a rally car driver for the German team. Although, where would this leave Carlos for 2025? It would mean he would potentially be replacing Zhou Guanyu or Valterri Bottas at the Kick Sauber F1 Team. In my opinion, this would be a huge downgrade for a driver who is obviously in his prime right now. Although the prospects of Audi sound very promising, I don’t see a team coming into F1 for the first time, and immediately being in a position to win races, which Carlos is more than capable of. Only time will tell for the Spanish driver, but one thing is for certain, he has proved how much he deserves a seat on the 2025 grid. Written by Gareth Booth