The chief victim of F1's renewed civil war
Carlos Sainz Jr's deal to join Renault on loan from Red Bull appeared at first to have given him control over his own destiny. But is he now next in line to be shuffled out of the door in Renault's relentless pursuit of progress?
Bumping into Jolyon Palmer in the Hungarian Grand Prix paddock, he exuded an air of calm and contentment. The perpetual state of stress that creased his face for much of 2017 has finally faded away. He looks a man revitalised now he is out of Formula 1's shark tank and back living life on his own terms.
This is a guy who found out he lost his Renault F1 seat by reading the news on Autosport, remember. That's the kind of world F1 is sometimes: merciless, ruthless, utterly unsentimental in pursuit of faster, better, stronger. Stand still and you will quickly disappear.
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