Who Is Maria de Villota? – Who Is Carlos Sainz’s Mentor? Why Does He Carry Her Star on His Helmet?

Carlos Sainz features a distinctive star on his helmet since 2014. This star is of great significance and sentiment for him, as explained by him in a recent Santander interview. It represents his late mentor Maria de Villota.

Sainz explained the distinct elements of his helmet in the interview. Besides his racing number and the Spanish flag, he delved into Maria de Villota’s contribution to his racing career. He stated, “I have Maria Villota’s star with me. She was the first one that I got into a single-seater with. She teached me how to drive it.”

Maria de Villota was a Spanish racer herself who also mentored Sainz in his formative years. She started coaching him at the Madrid Drivers’ School, which was founded by her father. Unfortunately, De Villota had an accident during a straight-line testing for the Marussia team in 2012.

And my favorite moment was him explaining his helmet and telling us about how he still carries Maria de Villota’s star with him (he carries it since 2014) ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/u9CrQRswR2

— ☆ ari (@itsme_ari_hi) December 14, 2023

While she recovered from this, she lost her right eye’s sight. A year later, she suffered a cardiac arrest and subsequently passed away at the young age of 33. Ever since then, Sainz has carried the star on his helmet in his mentor’s remembrance.

De Villota also had a great record across multiple karting and junior racing series in Spain and Europe. She has been one of the influential women racers as much as Susie Wolff has been. She was one of the female drivers to have tested in F1 during the early 2010s, besides Wolff.

Post her demise, a foundation was set up called Legado Maria De Villota. Sainz became an ambassador of this foundation in 2016 and was emotional about the same back then.

Carlos Sainz once gave an emotional speech in remembrance of Maria de Villota

On becoming the ambassador of the Legado Maria De Villota, Carlos Sainz gave an emotional speech at a ceremony about his late mentor. The former Toro Rosso driver teared up, reminiscing Maria’s contribution to his career.

Sainz showed his Toro Rosso helmet back then to depict the star dedicated to Villota. He then highlighted her role in his first drive in a single-seater and how crucial that foundation was. The Spaniard said, “I think I did 10-20 laps behind Maria, I keep them like gold in my mind. I have had a tremendous relationship with her ever since.”

“I made the personal decision to wear Maria’s star on my helmet since 2014. It’s not carrying the legacy but I do carry my personal Maria De Villota inside the helmet”, stated Sainz with tears in his eyes.

Carlos Sainz 2014 yılından beri, testte ölen Marussia pilotu Maria de Villota’nın anısına kaskında yıldız taşıyor pic.twitter.com/Tdh0GMtREt

— F1 Boomer (@f1_boomer) October 14, 2023

With her immense experience at the grassroots level of European formula racing, Villota had great credibility as a female racer. This helped her become a flagbearer for women in motorsport. Getting a test drive for Renault in 2011 and becoming a full-time test driver for Marussia in 2012 were significant leaps on her part in inspiring young women racers.

It was the same time when Susie Wolff tested for Williams till 2014-15. Unfortunately, Maria de Villota couldn’t stretch her legacy as much as Wolff has. Still, Carlos Sainz values her contribution immensely.