Best moments of Carlos Sainz’s F1 career including first pole, podium, win and more

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Carlos Sainz has produced some iconic moments since he joined the grid in 2015, so F1 Oversteer has looked into his best events including his first win and pole position.

After joining the grid with Toro Rosso in 2015, Sainz went up against Max Verstappen in his rookie year. It was the first time that the pair had met on a track, having missed out on the opportunity in their junior careers.

Sainz would ultimately stay with Toro Rosso until the final rounds of the 2017 season, when he replaced Jolyon Palmer at Renault for the final four races. A move to McLaren later followed in 2019, as Sainz partnered Lando Norris at the British outfit.

Ferrari became great admirers of Sainz during his time at McLaren, so they turned to the Madrid native to replace Sebastian Vettel from the 2021 season. Moving to Maranello would ultimately yield the most successful days of Sainz’s F1 career to date.

Yet despite Sainz being more than a match for Charles Leclerc, Ferrari allowed his contract to expire to sign Lewis Hamilton ahead of the 2025 season. Williams beat interest from Audi and Alpine to sign Sainz for 2025, after no front-running team stepped forward.

Where did Carlos Sainz make his Formula 1 debut?

Sainz made his F1 debut with Toro Rosso at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, where he managed to qualify P8 after making it through to Q3 at the first attempt.

Valtteri Bottas suffering a back injury during qualifying that forced the Finn to withdraw from the 2015 Australian GP promoted Sainz to P7 on the grid.

His first points-paying finish would also await on debut at Albert Park, as Sainz secured P9 – albeit a lap down on race-winner Hamilton of Mercedes and one of only 11 cars to finish.

Where did Carlos Sainz take his first podium finish in Formula 1?

Sainz scored his first Formula 1 podium finish with McLaren in the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, despite starting the race at Interlagos from P20 on the grid after failing to set a lap time during qualifying.

But Sainz would not get to celebrate his P3 finish in the 2019 Brazilian GP on the podium with race-winner Verstappen of Red Bull or Toro Rosso racer Pierre Gasly. The Spaniard inherited P3 in Sao Paulo after Mercedes’ Hamilton received a post-race penalty.

McLaren had put Sainz in a prime position for a big result in the 2019 Brazilian GP by making use of a safety car for a late pit stop.

Their gamble then paid off even more after the chequered flag, when Hamilton received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Alex Albon.

As the podium ceremony had already concluded, Sainz and McLaren were later allowed onto the Interlagos podium to hold their own celebrations for his maiden Formula 1 rostrum finish.

Carlos Sainz took his first pole position in Formula 1 at the 2022 British Grand Prix

Sainz scored his first pole position for a Grand Prix at the 150th attempt during his second year as a Ferrari driver at the 2022 British Grand Prix.

Red Bull rival Verstappen had set the pace during Q1 and Q2, but Sainz struck back when it mattered in Q3 to steal pole from the Dutchman by 0.072s. A spin by Ferrari teammate Leclerc during Q3 also helped Sainz to deny Verstappen pole at Silverstone.

Carlos Sainz won his first Formula 1 race at the 2022 British Grand Prix

Silverstone had become almost a second home race for Sainz following his time at McLaren, and the British crowd even witnessed his first Grand Prix win in 2022.

Sainz initially lost the lead of the 2022 British GP to Verstappen once DRS was enabled after the race resumed following a Turn 1 crash between George Russell and Zhou Guanyu that tipped the latter, before he flew over the tyre barrier.

But Verstappen later sustained damage to his floor after running over debris, which removed the Red Bull driver from contention for glory at the Northamptonshire venue.

The road to glory still had another hurdle to overcome, though, as Ferrari only chose to pit Sainz under a late safety car and asked him to back the field up 10 car lengths with his fresh soft tyres to give teammate Leclerc some clear air.

Sainz argued against Ferrari’s team order, which proved to be the right decision as he overtook Leclerc for the lead of the 2022 British GP soon after the restart and ran away to win. Leclerc finished in P4, 8.546s behind Sainz, after losing place to Sergio Perez and Hamilton.

Victory in the 2022 British GP made Sainz the 112th different driver to win a race in F1 history, and only the second Spaniard to win an F1 race after Fernando Alonso.

Carlos Sainz has produced some iconic races in Formula 1

Over the years, Sainz has developed a reputation for being a comeback king. This was on display at the 2024 Australian GP, when Sainz returned to action for Ferrari just two weeks after he required emergency surgery for appendicitis.

Sainz set the pace during Q1 and Q2 at Albert Park, but he qualified P2 for the 2024 Australian GP behind Verstappen after the Red Bull racer edged a 0.270s margin in Q3. But Verstappen retired just three laps into the race when his rear-right brake caught fire.

Williams also saw Sainz show why their team principal James Vowles fought so hard to sign the Spaniard following his release by Ferrari when he reached the podium with P3 in the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix and P3 in the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix.

While then-championship leader Oscar Piastri crashed during qualifying for the 2025 Azerbaijan GP and eventual champion Norris struggled in the tricky conditions in Q3, Sainz overcame the conditions to qualify P2.

Mercedes’ George Russell overtook Sainz during the race in Baku, but he held on for P3 to score Williams’ first podium since Russell was awarded P2 in the rained-off 2021 Belgian Grand Prix.

Williams had not taken a podium on merit before Sainz’s P3 in the 2025 Azerbaijan GP since Lance Stroll finished third in Baku in 2017.