Road to Formula 1

He was born on 1 September 1994 in Madrid. His father, Carlos Sainz Sr, is a two-time World Rally Champion and a Dakar winner. He started his single-seater career in Formula BMW, then moved to Formula Renault 2.0, winning its Northern European Cup in 2011, and went on to race in British and European Formula 3 and in GP3. Throughout that time he was part of the Red Bull junior programme; in 2013, at the young driver test at Silverstone, he drove a Formula 1 car for the first time.

In 2014 he won the Formula Renault 3.5 series with DAMS: seven wins in the season and the title of the youngest champion in the series’ history. In November 2014 Toro Rosso announced that Sainz and Max Verstappen would drive for the team in 2015. He made his World Championship debut at the Australian Grand Prix on 15 March 2015, starting seventh and finishing ninth to score points in his very first race.

Renault and McLaren

He spent 2015, 2016 and most of 2017 at Toro Rosso. From the United States Grand Prix on 22 October 2017 he drove for Renault, finishing seventh in his first race for his new team. He spent the whole of 2018 at Renault and moved to McLaren in 2019.

He took his first podium at the Brazilian Grand Prix on 17 November 2019. After a power unit failure in qualifying he started 20th, last, was the only driver in the field to run the race on a single pit stop, and finished fourth. He was promoted to third after the finish, when Lewis Hamilton was penalised for his collision with Alexander Albon. Sainz missed the podium ceremony, so McLaren held one of its own for him — it was the team’s first podium since the 2014 Australian Grand Prix. On 6 September 2020 he finished second at Monza after starting third.

Ferrari

In 2021 he moved to Ferrari. His first race was the Bahrain Grand Prix on 28 March 2021, where he finished eighth; his first podium for the team was second place at the Monaco Grand Prix on 23 May 2021. He opened the 2022 season with second place in Bahrain on 20 March, and on 2 July 2022 he took his first pole at the British Grand Prix, going on to win there the next day — the first race win of his career.

On 17 September 2023 he won the Singapore Grand Prix from pole. In the closing laps he deliberately slowed so that Lando Norris, running second, stayed within DRS range and could fend off George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. It was the only race of the 2023 season not won by a Red Bull driver: Max Verstappen’s run of 10 wins in a row came to an end.

On 8 March 2024, after two practice sessions at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, he was diagnosed with appendicitis: he missed the round and needed surgery, and reserve driver Oliver Bearman took his place in the car. At the next round, on 24 March 2024, he won the Australian Grand Prix from second on the grid. On 27 October 2024 he won the Mexico City Grand Prix from pole. His last race for Ferrari was the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 8 December 2024, where he finished second.

Williams

On 29 July 2024 Williams announced his signing: a two-year contract with options to extend, with Alexander Albon as his team-mate. His first race for the team was the Australian Grand Prix on 16 March 2025, which ended in retirement; his first points came with 10th place at the Chinese Grand Prix on 23 March 2025.

On 21 September 2025 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix he started second and finished third — the first Williams podium since the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, and the first in a full-distance race since the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. On 22 November 2025 he finished fifth in Las Vegas, and on 30 November 2025 he was back on the third step of the podium at the Qatar Grand Prix. He has scored points in his first season with every team he has driven for — from Toro Rosso in 2015 to Williams in 2025.

2026 season

2026 is his second season at Williams; his team-mate is Alexander Albon, and the team uses Mercedes power units. The championship runs to new technical regulations with new power units and active aerodynamics. He opened the season at the Australian Grand Prix on 8 March 2026, starting 21st and finishing 15th. His first points of the year came with ninth place at the Chinese Grand Prix on 15 March 2026; he also finished ninth in Miami on 3 May and in Canada on 24 May.

On 19 August 2026 Williams announced a new multi-year contract, with Sainz and Albon as its line-up for 2027. The season has two home races for him: he finished the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix on 14 June 2026 in 12th place, and he did not make it to the finish of the Spanish Grand Prix on 13 September 2026 at the new circuit in Madrid, his home city.