OPINION: Carlos Sainz is a criminally underrated F1 driver

Fernando Alonso, Lando Norris, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Alex Albon have all been linked with the vacant Hamilton seat, while unrest at Red Bull has opened a potential door for reigning champ Max Verstappen to jump ship to the Silver Arrows. Yet, for whatever reason the man who has lost his seat at Ferrari, despite delivering all of the team’s best results over the past two seasons as the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race over the past 20 months, has been completely overlooked.

At 29 years old, Carlos Sainz is at the peak of his career. The 2024 season is his tenth in Formula 1 and he has come up against several team-mates who are now considered among the best drivers on the grid. He joined F1 alongside Verstappen at Toro Rosso, and showed himself to be a match for the Dutchman on several occasions throughout the season. He got the better of Lando Norris during two seasons at McLaren, and in his time at Ferrari he has proven himself to be more than a match for Charles Leclerc, the man often lauded as the fastest on the current F1 grid.

Sainz has never been blindingly quick in the way Verstappen or Leclerc are. His Monegasque team-mate scored five pole positions last season, even in the midst of Red Bull’s overwhelming dominance. But what he lacks in outright pace, he makes up for with an innate ability to put himself in the right place at the right time. Red Bull has offered up two opportunities since the start of 2023, and Sainz has taken them both. That’s not a coincidence.

The news that he would be without a drive at the end of the year clearly came as a shock for Sainz, who would have had a reasonable expectation that he’d done enough to secure a new contract with Ferrari. There’s no doubt he’s taken it as a motivation, though, because in the face of Red Bull’s terrifying speed in Bahrain, the Spaniard was only three seconds behind Sergio Perez and took third place some 14 seconds ahead of Leclerc.

Appendicitis threatened to derail his charge in Saudi Arabia and Oliver Bearman stepped in to deliver an impressive cameo performance. But his response to adversity has been perhaps the most impressive story of Sainz’s career to date. Barely seven days are undergoing abdominal surgery to remove his appendix, he was back in the car and ready fight through the discomfort to put in another stellar performance. It was worth the effort because he took a quite brilliant victory at the Australian Grand Prix.

It's early days, but this is Sainz’s chance to finally prove himself as a top-level player, to cement himself within that elite group of drivers that are expected to race for the very best teams. A group that would contain Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso, with George Russell and Lando Norris very much in there too. That he has been discounted from that list is mind-boggling.

Sainz has never once looked out of place at Ferrari, and has proven himself on the biggest stage on several occasions, against the world’s best drivers. Surely it’s time to consider him among that group?

His career is still very much on an upward trajectory, too. The Sainz of 2024 looks far better that what we saw in 2023, and you have to believe that trend will continue. Perhaps a move away from Ferrari will do him good, the team feels a touch stagnant and a change of scene is rarely a bad thing, as long as that change still sees him with a chance to fight at the front. Should Sainz find himself shunted back into the midfield with Sauber (the rumours of him joining up with Audi remain strong), I fear his career may faulter.

So where does he go? Mercedes looks to have made little progress with its car yet again, so you question whether that even feels like an enticing option. Christian Horner’s comments in the aftermath of his latest victory were cause for optimism in the Sainz camp, as he suggested the Spaniard would be difficult to overlook on the back of more strong performances. Red Bull faces a real danger of losing its star driver at the end of the season, and with Sergio Perez continuing to struggle, it could well be arriving with a whole new driver line-up in 2025. Surely Carlos Sainz, who left the Red Bull fold in 2017, must be in line for a seat with the team? Even if Verstappen does stay, it would be by far and away the toughest test the Dutchman has faced.

If Sainz is overlooked for a top drive in 2025, it’ll be a damning indictment on the decision-makers behind what is bound to be an intriguing and intense silly season. He’s proven more than anyone else on the grid that he belongs at the front, and the likes of Mercedes and Red Bull should be securing the signature of Carlos Sainz at any cost.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.