Cheeky Carlos Sainz Rubs Salt in the Wounds of F1 Majority “To Remind Them Who’s in Charge”

Carlos Sainz, a huge Real Madrid supporter and soccer lover came out to celebrate Spain’s Euro 2024 win against England. However, he did it in quite a drastic way while reminding Lando Norris and the F1 majority who’s in charge of the English-dominated sport.

Someone wrote “Viva España” followed by the Euro 2024 Final score “2-1” on Norris’ parking sign in the Hungarian GP paddock. Sainz later revealed that it was he who planned it with his cousin as the Ferrari driver continued the Carlando bromance.

However, when DAZN asked about the same, Sainz replied, “In a sport dominated by the English, every now and then we need to remind them who’s in charge”.

It was a video of Sainz and Leclerc parking their Ferraris at the Circuit in which the #55 driver and his cousin and manager Carlos Onoro could be seen writing something on Norris’ parking sign. As Sainz admitted it was to rub salt in the wounds of the British majority in F1.

With Silverstone known to be the home of F1, the UK has become the hub for open-wheel racing and karting. With Oliver Bearman joining the grid next year, a quarter of the grid will be English.

Six of the ten F1 teams’ factories are in the UK. So, it is natural for non-British drivers like Sainz and Fernando Alonso to feel a sense of bias in the sport as the latter pointed out at the Miami GP this year. Nonetheless, when Alonso was asked in Hungary if he was the one who wrote Viva España on Norris’ parking sign, he refused suggesting it was Sainz. 

Many of the F1 drivers are huge soccer fanatics. And they closely followed the Euros with Hamilton and Russell watching the semi-final on the large screen with the fans after the British GP. Both Norris and Russell attended the final as they watched England lose the cup in the final minutes.

Norris seemed distressed during and after the match. A photo of him looking all gloomy went viral on the internet. This is probably why Sainz chose to rub England’s loss to Spain in the McLaren driver’s wounds. The Spaniards, i.e. Sainz and Alonso were ecstatic and celebrated the Spanish win on social media.