Carlos Sainz Sr. is a legend when it comes to rallying. The 61-year-old has two World Rally Championship titles and has also won the Dakar Rally four times in his career. However, it wasn’t enough for his son, Carlos Sainz Jr., to take inspiration from his father, who instead aspires to be more like Fernando Alonso and pursue a long-term career in F1.
Sainz Jr. has always been a fan of Alonso and has never shied away from accepting it. Seeing Alonso drive when he was an F1 world champion back in 2005 and 2006 motivated the Ferrari driver to go up to his father and tell him that he wanted to emulate him.
Carlos Sainz reveals why he did not follow in his father’s footsteps
Appearing as a guest on YouTube channel P1 with Matt & Tommy, the Ferrari driver answered various questions put forth by his fans. One such question was why he didn’t choose to have a career in rally racing alongside his father. The 29-year-old was very transparent with his answer and claimed it was Fernando Alonso who swayed his attention to F1 and made him want to become like him.
“2005, we went to Spanish Grand Prix. Barcelona. I met Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher.”
“When I came back from the trip in 2005, I was 10 years and a half, I told my dad, ‘Oh, I wanna be like Fernando Alonso! I want to be a Formula One driver.'”
Sainz Jr. worked hard and achieved his dream of becoming a driver in F1. Not only that, but he also got lucky enough to drive alongside his childhood hero, with whom he shares a great camaraderie.
Fernando Alonso is the least aggressive with Sainz
Alonso is famous for being a ruthless and overly aggressive driver on the track. However, this isn’t the case when it comes to his compatriot, Sainz. He recently revealed he keeps more margin between himself and Sainz as opposed to other drivers. Alonso added he doesn’t want to tussle too hard with Sainz, given they have the same nationality and share a good friendship despite their age gap.
🇪🇸 Fernando Alonso: “I don’t fight the same against Carlos Sainz as I do against another driver”.
👉 “You are always less aggressive and more careful with what you do because, even if he is not your partner, he is your friend, the other Spaniard on the track and you always try… pic.twitter.com/t3eEu55vpm
— Patrick (@RacingStorki) September 6, 2023
The Spanish drivers have become the flag bearers for their country in F1 and continue to shape Spain as a formidable force in the sport. For years, before Alonso came along, Spain was never seen as a country that had a strong talent pool. Now, with Sainz steadily becoming the face of his country, it is up to him to continue making his nation proud while also helping his team become the best in the business.
