Carlos Sainz visits Saudi Arabia to see his 60-year-old father vying for the title in the desert

Scuderia Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s father Carlos Sainz Sr. is one of the biggest legends in motorsports. The 60-year-old is an all-time great in rally racing and is a two-time World Champion in his disciple.

Other than that, he has also won the prestigious Dakar rally on four separate occasions. This season, he’s representing Audi in the Saudi Arabian desert as he tries to capture his fifth win. His son has traveled all the way to the middle-eastern nation to watch his father try and win the Championship.

Carlos Sainz watches Carlos Sainz repair a tire/axel issue @f1reddit pic.twitter.com/lf19bFWvzR

— sominslc (@sominslc1) January 4, 2023

Sainz was leading the race in the first two stages, but a mechanical error slowed him down. Nasser Al-Attiyah ended up taking the lead in the race and is currently 30 minutes ahead of Sainz. The Spaniard got a flat tire in the middle of the desert and had to wait for his Audi teammate to come and help him. His son, who was at the venue, stood watching as his father repaired the tire before setting off again.

Also read: “Maybe it’s just a generation thing” – Max Verstappen talks about why he keeps crashing with Lewis Hamilton

Carlos Sainz isn’t worried about Fred Vasseur and Charles Leclerc’s bond

Sainz joined Ferrari in 2021 and surprised everyone by finishing ahead of Charles Leclerc in the very first season. In 2022, however, he struggled to get up to speed and was outperformed by Leclerc for the majority of the year.

In spite of this, then-team principal Mattia Binotto refused to have a number one driver. A lot of fans felt that he should have prioritized Leclerc’s races, but he was adamant that Sainz was free to fight the Monegasque whenever he wanted to. Now that Binotto is gone, fans are wondering if Sainz’s status on the team will be the same or not.

Replacing Binotto is former Alfa Romeo boss Frederic Vasseur, who was Leclerc’s team principal back in 2018. The two go way back, and share a special bond, but Sainz insists that he is not concerned about it.

“I don’t think I’m starting from scratch,” the 27-year-old said. “As I said, I’m sure I’ll get on well with him and he’ll be happy with me when he sees me work, with my relationship with the team and with Charles.

Also read: “I was looking at my younger self”: Sebastian Vettel claims he saw something special in Charles Leclerc