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There are no second chances in life, except to feel regret.
Carlos Sainz is an exception to this axiom. Having been overlooked for a seat at Toro Rosso last year in favour of Max Verstappen, Sainz, the son of the double World Rally Champion (of whom he shares his name) worked even harder to convince the world he was still hot property.
Sure enough, when fate finally dealt him a decent deck of cards he was ready to seize the opportunity with both hands.
With Fernando Alonso effectively driving with one arm tied behind his back in an under-performing McLaren, Spain’s weary eyes have now turned to Sainz as its new national hero. Trent Price spoke with Carlos ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix about how he’s maximising every opportunity and taking on the sister team at Red Bull.
The moment that Sainz Junior (a title he tries to avoid) first became aware of the fact that he was from a motor sport family with a very strong tradition, was not during the height of his father’s reign as a world rally champ, but rather during the twilight of his career. It was the kind of dreamy equinox scenario most children have with their parents – only slightly more public.
“In 2004 when my father retired, suddenly the whole centre of Madrid was closed for him to do an exhibition and say goodbye to everyone” remembers Carlos. “I thought for the whole centre of Madrid to be closed just for him to do donuts I realised he was important. Until that moment I just knew that he wasn’t home a lot while I was playing football and tennis waiting for him to come back. But I didn’t realise how big he was!”
One attribute that is undeniably obvious between Sainz senior and junior is their pronounced sense of discipline. Carlos Sainz changed the face of rallying during the early 1990s when specialist drivers were being called in for the type of surface the teams were called to compete on. As a result, the revolving door of drivers had a profound effect on the overall constructor’s championship at the expense of the driver’s. Sainz knew he had to be a specialist on every kind of surface in order to be World Champion. It is a sense of perfection he passed onto his son – to be perfect in every department.
“This has been the main thing that my dad has always told me”, says Sainz. “You need to be disciplined, methodical and a hard worker. Since I first stepped into a car when I was nine years old that was the main thing I worked on.”
An Achilles heel for Toro Rosso drivers in the past has been their tendency to fall into apathy upon climbing that final step into Formula One. Vitantonio Luizzi and Scott Speed were often viewed (rightly or wrongly) as a case in point, but the last few seasons has seen a shift at Toro Rosso.
Daniel Ricciardo was the first Red Bull junior graduate in five years to make the step up to Red Bull Racing – having been viewed as possessing the right ingredients to be a race winner. The shift in tide is something that Sainz has been particularly conscious of, admitting that “Toro Rosso is a chance for me that took a lot of time and a lot of effort to get. So once you get it that’s a chance I don’t want to let go. I have to extract the full potential of myself to achieve this”.
When Max Verstappen was signed to Toro Rosso in October last year, Sainz could be forgiven for thinking his window of opportunity had slammed shut. Then of course Daniil Kvyat was called up to replace Sebastian Vettel leaving a seat open for the young Spaniard. But like a cricketer who narrowly misses getting caught out and goes on to score a tonne of runs, Sainz took the ‘head down, bum up’ attitude rather than dwelling on the moment.
“It was a very tough moment. Probably the toughest moment of my career” says Carlos. “Up until then I was having a great season in Formula Renault 3.5, I had all the chances of getting into Toro Rosso and suddenly all this came. Then obviously the option came again. But I struggled so much to get that seat and once I got it, it was all or nothing”.
But even with that initial disappointment, Sainz experienced a lot of challenging moments during 2014 while competing in the Renault 3.5 series – taking the championship last year. Is it possible that season was subconsciously mentally preparing Sainz for that challenge in that it just became another hurdle to jump over?
“During all those tough moments that I had that year I managed to remain focussed and win back-to-back races at Paul Ricard and win the championship. It made me a much stronger driver, especially on the mental side… When you get bad news when you are doing everything right it’s easy to say ‘life is unfair’ and just stop working. You might be doing things perfect, but what you have to work harder to get that chance back. To prove to them that they were wrong and that you were the right choice. I kept working and because of chance the opportunity opened again”.
That unwavering work ethic exemplified Carlos’s approach during his first practice session in Melbourne. There were no flashy heroics, just metronomic precision as he built up his race weekend – piece by piece. Since then, Carlos has quietly matched (and on occasion outperformed) his more fancied teammate in Verstappen and regularly upstaged both Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat.
Of course a good chassis helps. We’ve seen rookie drivers – like Heikki Kovalainen in 2007 – step into an unpredictable car and experience a confidence hit that he never seemed to recover from. No matter what category you’re in, one cannot underestimate the importance of having a good balanced car underneath you – especially as a rookie. It is a factor that Sainz recognises and has used to his advantage, knowing full well these opportunities don’t come along very often.
“Our car behaves very well and we’ve developed a very good baseline” he says. “I adapted the car to my driving style and arrived in Melbourne with confidence in the car. Obviously this was underrepresented with the drivability problems we had in the car, but I took it little by little with a track that I didn’t know, but to be honest the weekend went really smoothly and I could build up self-confidence”.
A major talking point in Formula One this year has been the relatively dismal performance of the Renault power unit. While Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had been screaming for equalisation between engine manufacturers, his junior team has been quietly getting on with business.
Having already completed more testing miles than Red Bull, the Faenza outfit had already ironed out most of the bugs that appeared to be thwarting their sister team’s championship campaign. If Sainz was driving around the perceived engine mapping issues, he wasn’t letting on; admitting he was pushing to the limit as much as the car would allow.
“In terms of mechanical and aerodynamic grip I’m pushing it as hard as I can”, enthuses Sainz. “This week driveability was a huge step forward so I think the only limit we have at the moment is top speed. But again I’m not worried. I have the confidence in Renault. I’m in my learning year and I’m looking forward to the improvements to battle the other cars in the races”.
Apart from a bungled stop that effectively ruined his race in Melbourne, there was some concern over high fuel consumption. Rather than pointing to ‘driveability issues’ and the ripple effect that can creates, Sainz displays the level-headedness and methodology of a seasoned racing driver.
“It came about due to a lot of circumstances. It’s a high fuel consumption track and the lack of power meant we spent a lot of time on full-throttle compared to our main rivals” he adds. “Plus a quick car with a lot of down-force unfortunately creates a lot of drag, so it was a lot of circumstances put together.”
When most drivers enter Formula One they more often than not have the luxury of lining-up against an experienced teammate who they can bounce off, compare notes without the pressure of having to exceed expectations. Kevin Magnussen was in that position at McLaren last year with Jenson Button, but with Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen both being rookies they have nowhere to hide, knowing full well the penalty of being blown away by the guy on the other side of the garage.
“At the end of the day you don’t realise your teammate doesn’t have any experience at this level” offers a pragmatic Sainz. “You try to see at which corners yourteammate is faster and from that you improve yourself. You don’t care if he’s experienced or not, you just care about being quicker and extract his good knowledge from the corners and put them into yours. For me Max is very quick so I can pick up from him, but every driver is different. We’re pushing each other a lot but it’s been like this during all my years in the Red Bull junior team. I prefer a quickteammate because it helps you to push yourself”.
Although he shirks at comparisons to his father, like Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica, Carlos likes to keep a hand in rallying during his spare time. WEC and Formula E regular, Stéphane Sarrazin is another driver who expounds the virtues of rallying, saying it helps him adapt to changing conditions – in the belief it provides an edge in his circuit racing. It’s an edge that Sainz has compartmentalised and stored away among his arsenal for use whenever the need arises.
“I love rallying and for sure it helps. Maybe it might just be one per cent, but it’s one per cent you have to take for your performance” Carlos grins. “Everything to can do to improve your feeling the better.”
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