After spending his entire career fighting for points in the midfield, Carlos Sainz got the opportunity of a lifetime when Ferrari signed him in 2021. Although it wasn’t a winning team right from the get-go of his Maranello stint, Sainz tasted more success there than he had done in all his other teams combined.
Teaming up with Charles Leclerc, Sainz was part of a Ferrari team that was transitioning towards dominance again, and while they couldn’t win the championship with him at the team (they are yet to, at the time of writing), Sainz did something he never thought he would do. That was to win a race.
Ferrari is the biggest name in F1 despite their 17-year-long title drought. But for Sainz, his arrival made him particularly wary because Ferrari had one of its worst seasons ever the year prior, in which they finished P6 in the championship.
“I arrived to help this team to be what Ferrari was before,” Sainz said in an interview with Soy Motor. “Therefore, there were not so many expectations of the World Cup and winning races.” It took some time for Sainz to stand on the top step of the podium for the first time.
That moment finally came at the 2022 British Grand Prix, where he also secured his maiden pole position. The Madrid-born driver went on to win three more races for the Italian team before his departure in 2024—the same year Ferrari fell just 14 points short of clinching the championship.
“So if you tell me four years ago that you are going to win races with Ferrari, to be sixth in the World Championship, to start winning races and to fight for a World Championship in 2024, as we have fought as builders, there is a step, so I was not so sure that in any stage at Ferrari I was going to get my first victories.”
Sainz won two races in his final season with Ferrari, which was arguably his best-ever campaign in Formula 1. Yet, despite his impressive performances, the team opted to replace him with Lewis Hamilton, pairing the seven-time world champion with Leclerc in a star-studded lineup.
The decision sparked criticism from many experts, including the late Eddie Jordan, who praised Sainz for his contributions. “It was absolutely suicidal to get rid of Carlos,” Jordan remarked on the Formula for Success podcast last year.
Nevertheless, Sainz can take pride in the role he played in Ferrari’s resurgence. During his time with the team, they came closer to winning a championship than they had in over a decade, and he formed a strong partnership with Leclerc. Now at Williams, the 30-year-old hopes to lead Williams back to the front of the grid and spark a new era of success.
