Carlos Sainz Is in the Driver’s Seat

If you’re a fan of Formula One, chances are you know the name Carlos Sainz. The Spanish driver is currently racing for Scuderia Ferrari and is somewhat regarded as racing royalty with his familial roots in the Rally world. Despite his last name making headlines in Rally, however, Sainz has always drifted toward F1.

First coming onto the scene in 2015, he first made his debut racing for Toro Rosso and has since driven for Renault, McLaren, and now Ferrari. And while he’s making the move over to Williams in 2025, the driver isn’t losing focus for this season. With 10 more races on the schedule, Sainz is currently in 5th place in the 2024 Driver’s Championship and is only looking for more wins to add under his belt.

Now it comes as no surprise that Formula One is not for the faint of heart. With only 20 drivers on the grid each year, the sport is extremely competitive and cutthroat. But for Sainz, it’s never been about pressure but instead, pride. As the season picks up later this month following a summer break, the 29-year-old is ready to end his 2024 season with a high.

The Ferrari driver recently sat down with Hypebeast to reflect on his career so far, talking to us about everything from finding balance during his free time to the biggest lessons learned along the way.

“I’ve been in Formula One long enough to realize that your teammate is the first one that you need to respect and you can’t allow any single incident on track to affect that.”

In F1, you’re racing alongside some veterans and maybe even childhood heroes of yours. Did you ever feel pressure when you were stepping into the Ferrari seat given the history of previous drivers?

I don’t think pressure is the right word. You feel a lot of pride because you’ve managed to make your dream come true. Since I was a kid, I wanted to be an F1 driver and be racing against my heroes. Obviously, there are some nerves during the first few races, but then it clears off very quickly and you’re just doing your job and doing the best you can to beat them. That becomes the target very quickly.

What’s the best way for a fan to fully immerse themselves into Formula One?

Try to learn about Formula One, not only on the superficial level but go a bit deeper into everything that goes into a race – the stories behind each team. If you’re going to give Formula One a shot, do it properly, there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes. If you get into a bit of social media, documentaries, deep analysis’ – you will engage a lot more and you’ll understand why there are so many people around the world tuning into the sport.

You’ve now been in the F1 world for quite some time now, racing with different teams – can you share one of your fondest memories of your career so far? 

Yeah, nearly 10 years. Thinking about it now it’s crazy, given that I’m going to turn 30 soon. My best memories are the firsts, you never forget your firsts. First race, first pole position, first win. Then obviously my most recent wins in Singapore and Australia are moments that will stay with me the most.

If you had to choose, what’s one lesson you’ve learned along the way that has stuck with you the most?

Sometimes I tend to be a bit too nice. In a world like Formula One, you need to be quite aggressive and selfish – every year that goes by, I realize that I need to look out for myself. Obviously, you do that without forgetting values and what you’ve learned, but you do have to think about yourself more.

F1 is such an intense, all-in sport. How does a week typically look between races? Especially when you have those triple-header races.

Triple headers are normally either in Europe or locations where you don’t need to travel as much. Normally Monday is the day off in between these weeks and by Tuesday, I’m doing some light workouts. I’ll also always try and play some golf or do something that disconnects me a little bit. By Wednesdays and Thursdays, we’re in interviews, preparing with our engineers, I’ll also get in a heavier gym session or workout, just really trying to get ready for the weekend. Then obviously you have the weekend which is just focused on the race itself.

How do you find that balance to recover both mentally and physically?

I always find it a little challenging when you’re in the middle of the season to try and find moments where you stop thinking about the car, or the setup, or qualifying. You’re always busy thinking about these things. But golf and cycling are some of those things that when I do them, I can go four or five hours outdoors without thinking about F1 one single time. I’m just focusing on one sport and having fun with my friends and the people around me, which I love. Once I stop you come back to thinking about those things. But for at least a few hours, it’s just you and nature.

You seem like such a friendly face around the paddock and had such a good relationship with Lando, and now Charles. When you’re racing on a team together and fighting for team points, but also racing individually, is it ever difficult to find that balance?

For sure it’s difficult, but I’ve been in Formula One long enough to realize that your teammate is the first one that you need to respect and you can’t allow any single incident on track to affect that. There are thousands of people behind the scenes, manufacturing those cars, so the last thing you want to do is put both of you in danger of making the factory and the team have to produce more parts for the car. You also get to spend more time with them because you’re teammates – you do events together and travel together. So that helps you have a stronger bond.

What are you most looking forward to for the rest of the season?

I’m just trying to finish my Ferrari period on a high, hopefully with more wins or podiums. This is my ultimate target. There’s still half of the season left, so plenty of opportunities and plenty of good moments ahead of us.

With your father as such a legend in the Rally world, did you ever think you would take that route instead of F1? What was it about F1 that made you pursue it?

No for some reason, I was always obsessed with Formula One and loved go-karting and watching F1 on TV. Even though I’ve always had my rally and loved it too, I’ve never had the same passion for it as I had for Formula One.