Carlos Sainz, Jr. to race for Toro Rosso

Howard · Nov 28, 2014

Carlos Sainz, Jr. will lineup alongside fellow rookie Max Verstappen for Toro Rosso in 2015.

The 20 year old Spaniard took the standard route into motorsport, winning the Asia-Pacific KF3 karting title in 2008 and two years later he made his single-seater debut in Formula BMW, before moving up the ranks through Formula Renault 2.0, British Formula 3, then GP3 in 2013. This year has seen Sainz become the youngest ever winner of the World Series by Renault 3.5 Championship. Last week, Carlos drove in the Abu Dhabi test for Infiniti Red Bull Racing.

Carlos said "I am really happy to have landed the drive with Scuderia Toro Rosso. Ever since I have been part of Red Bull's Young Driver Programme, this has been my aim and I want to thank Red Bull for putting their faith in me. I have had a very successful season in World Series by Renault this year and now I am looking forward to taking the step up to Formula 1. I tested for a day with Toro Rosso last year and I liked the atmosphere in the team. In the next few months I will be working hard on my preparation, ready to get in the cockpit in Jerez for the first test of next year. It will be nice to make my "official" debut as a Formula 1 driver in my home country!"

Franz Tost added "With Carlos Sainz joining Max Verstappen in our driver line-up next year, we continue the Toro Rosso tradition of providing youngsters from the Red Bull Junior Driver Programme with their first steps in Formula 1. I have watched Carlos progress through the junior categories, always improving as he moved higher up the ladder, culminating in a well-deserved win in this year's World Series. However, I also remember the day's testing he did with us at Silverstone in 2013 in the STR8. He really surprised me and his engineers that day, with his mature approach and his speed."

realitychecked · Nov 28, 2014

I'm booking Felix da Costa for next year. If Toro Rosso won't give him a drive then I'm boycotting their factory.

Alberto Casado · Nov 28, 2014

He was a bit too vocal about him deserving the ride more than Verstappen (although he may be right, it is better to let your manager do that kind of statements...). But seems it did not hurt him in the end.

If genetics have anything to do with luck and performance, he should provide us with brilliant races and sudden engine failures on the penultimate corner.

David O'Reilly · Nov 29, 2014

Well it seems to me that his dominant performance in FR 3.5 earned this.
It would have been a shame if he didn't get an F1 shot after winning the title.

CianLynch · Nov 29, 2014

Tbh I would rather see Buemi or Alguersuari back with the team but with the Red Bull Junior Team system, that's pretty much impossible.

gazdapavo · Nov 29, 2014

i think both of them will do well at toro rosso in 2015. however, I'd let them cook for another year in GP2 or similar series before getting into F1. now days all the kids once they do a perfect season in a lower series think that they are immediately entitled to F1 seat. in any case, looking into the performance of 2014, i am cheering for junior in 2015.. lets see how they match against each other!

Howard · Nov 29, 2014

gazdapavo said:
i think both of them will do well at toro rosso in 2015. however, I'd let them cook for another year in GP2 or similar series before getting into F1. now days all the kids once they do a perfect season in a lower series think that they are immediately entitled to F1 seat. in any case, looking into the performance of 2014, i am cheering for junior in 2015.. lets see how they match against each other!

I think that Carlos is ready for F1, especially given that he just won FR3.5. I think they should have plopped Max into GP2 or Carlos' FR3.5 seat for a season, just to give him time to adapt to the faster cars, and so on.