On this week #35: El Matador
Put the words “Carlos Sainz” into an internet search engine and the first articles that appear all refer to the Formula 1 driver currently racing for Ferrari, who turns 30 in a few days time. But long before there was even such a thing as the internet, another Carlos Sainz was making motorsport headlines, the man whom we now refer to as Sainz Senior, father of the current Grand Prix racer.
The 26 August in 1990, a few days before his son was born, Sainz the father won the 1000 Lakes Rally, a round of the World Rally Championship, held in Finland.
At the time it was considered almost inconceivable that a non-Scandinavian could ever win the 1000 Lakes. It was, and still is, under its current name, Rally Finland, a truly unique event, because to this day, it is the fastest loose surface rally in the world championship, with cars reaching very high speeds. Spectators gather hours in advance to watch the cars come through, especially at points where they go over “yumps” the word given to places where they have been known to fly up to 60 metres through the air over a “jump,” the English word which Scandinavians pronounce as “yumps.” The high speeds meant local knowledge was considered essential, but perfect preparation – always a Sainz obsession – from him and co-driver and fellow Spaniard Luis Moya won the day. With two wins prior to Finland and one later that year, Sainz went on to claim the first of his two World Rally Championship titles.
As a youngster, Sainz showed great sporting prowess, crowned Spanish Squash champion at the age of just 16 and he even had a trial to play professional football for his beloved Real Madrid. He started rallying in 1980, becoming Spanish champion in a Ford Sierra Cosworth in 1987 and 1988, when he also made his debut on the world rally stage. It was the following year that he really made his mark, after joining the Toyota team, with that first title in 1990, a second place the following year and his second world title in 1992. The impact his success had in Spain was huge, earning him the nickname, “El Matador”, a source of national pride for a country that had never before made its mark on the world of motorised sports: remember this was long before the likes of Alex Criville, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez and Joan Mir almost turned MotoGP into a Spanish championship, or indeed before a certain Fernando Alonso entered the public consciousness.
Going through Sainz's entire career would take a very long time, so to summarise, apart from the two WRC titles, he finished runner up in the championship four times, with 26 rally victories and an astonishing 757 special stage wins. His car development skills and experience were put to good use by the aforementioned Ford and Toyota teams and he also rallied with Lancia, Subaru and Citroen.
Sainz eventually retired from full time rallying at the age of 43 in 2005. A brilliant career, a national hero, surely it was time to hang up his helmet and maybe focus on supporting the career of his son who started karting in 2006. But no, the competitive urge was too strong and another obsession took hold – the Dakar Rally. He first entered the marathon rally raid in 2006, winning it with Volkswagen in 2008, followed by a further three victories, in 2018 with Peugeot, in 2020 with Mini and this year with Audi, the latest victory all the more remarkable as he is now 61 years old and, in the 2023 event, he crashed heavily, fracturing his spine in two places. He also set up a team to race in the all-electric Extreme E off-road race series, but his participation was cut short by that Dakar crash.
The story doesn't end here, because a few months ago, it was announced that Sainz would lead Ford's new assault on the Dakar starting in 2025. One could say the career has come full circle as it was with Ford that he made his WRC debut all those years ago. In fact, he rejoined Ford in 1996 for two seasons taking three wins and even had a third stint for the “Blue Oval” from 2000 to 2002, when a further two wins were added to his palmares.
They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and after this year's Dakar, Sainz revealed that his son had played an important role, advising his dad on strategy. “We talked to each other before and after every stage,” said the father. “Carlos has been a great help. If I had a strategy he sometimes knew how to refute it partially or completely. If we had to do it again, we wouldn't change anything about the strategy. In that sense, it was a good Dakar." Sainz Jnr. still has unfinished business in Formula 1 and a multi-year contract in his pocket from the Williams team starting next year, but the family genes would suggest that further adventures await once he retires from Grand Prix racing.
