Why Sainz can handle the pressure of Ferrari

Carlos Sainz finally has his date with destiny. It's not arrived in quite the way he probably expected when he started the journey, but in this game you must take your chances when they come. Racing for Ferrari in Formula 1 is something else; they all say so.

It is never smooth sailing, often it's chaotic, shambolic even, and rarely does it end well, even for the winners. But it is special - a Formula 1 team with culture, history and passion like no other. Irresistible you might say.

Sainz certainly couldn't resist, and very soon he will be turning out resplendent in scarlet red, enjoying the unique emotions savoured only by those who ride the mythical horses of Enzo's stable, living the life dreams are made of - the life of a Ferrari driver.

But first there is the small matter of 2020, and Sainz seeing out his final season driving for Ferrari's great rival of the early 2000s: McLaren, the team Ron Dennis dreamed of transforming into the 'British Ferrari'; the one that propelled Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso to the destination Sainz is now heading for.

The farewell tour will feel strange to Sainz, no doubt - especially so given the disjointed nature of a season that will (to begin with at least) swap the usual hustle, bustle and fanfare for a 'new normal' regimen of isolation protocols, hyper personal hygiene and coronavirus testing. Probably not how he imagined saying his goodbyes...

However it turns out, Sainz owes McLaren a great debt of gratitude. This team salvaged his career after he was constricted by apparent simultaneous rejection - Red Bull and Renault both deciding by the summer of 2018 that Sainz wouldn't be part of their long-term planning.

By that point Red Bull had already determined Max Verstappen to be its main man; Daniel Ricciardo the perfect foil, and if Ricciardo wouldn't sign his new contract then Pierre Gasly was the guy Red Bull wanted to promote from Toro Rosso. Red Bull had no need of Sainz, and what's more his push to get away from Toro Rosso in 2017 had irked Helmut Marko - and Marko is not someone you want to irk...

Meanwhile, Renault was manoeuvring to bring long-term target Esteban Ocon back to Enstone to partner Nico Hulkenberg, now in his second season of a three-year agreement with the team. Hulkenberg maintained a marginal edge over Sainz during their 25 races as team-mates once Sainz replaced underperforming Jolyon Palmer at the back end of 2017, but Enstone was still happy enough to continue with Sainz and was prepared to make his loan permanent on a two-year deal.

Having bounced around teams and looking in danger of being left on the sidelines, Sainz landed a seat that would ultimately change his life in ways he couldn't imagine

The only snag was securing an early release of Sainz from his Red Bull 'master contract', made more difficult by ongoing political wrangling between Renault and its customer team over the performance and reliability of Renault's hybrid V6. So, Renault made other arrangements and Cyril Abiteboul struck a gentlemen's agreement with Toto Wolff to sign Ocon instead.

Heading into 2018's August summer break, Sainz's F1 career looked in real danger of reaching an abrupt end. But there came a piece of apparent serendipity that would transform his fortunes completely. Double world champion Alonso - hero of Spain and of Sainz too - decided he would take a sabbatical from F1 at the end of the season, and it looked as though this would be the turning point of Sainz's career.

But Sainz and his family had already started talks with McLaren, having considered in early 2018 a possible scenario whereby neither Red Bull nor Renault would want to retain him. Despite being friendly with Fernando, the Sainz clan had no advanced knowledge of Alonso's plans. In fact, Sainz had gotten to know McLaren CEO Zak Brown on the golf course in 2017, and was sounding out his chances of replacing struggling Stoffel Vandoorne as Alonso's team-mate.

Ocon and Ricciardo were also in the frame initially, but when it looked as though Ricciardo would re-sign with Red Bull and Ocon would join Renault, Sainz's position with McLaren strengthened. He did the deal to join McLaren (alongside rookie Lando Norris) in the summer of 2018, after Red Bull finally waived its option on Sainz. Having bounced around teams and looking in danger of being left on the sidelines, Sainz landed a seat that would ultimately change his life in ways he couldn't imagine.

To begin with, this looked like a marriage of mutual convenience: Sainz getting the chance to save his career with two guaranteed seasons at the same team for the first time; McLaren the opportunity to finally recover completely from the hangover of the troubled Honda years and rebuild around a younger, energetic driver line-up - one that would be keen to learn rather than ready to win while the team was not.

As it turns out, Sainz used McLaren as the springboard for his own leap into the big time - a chance, finally, to race for a top team; a chance denied him by the circumstances of his rise through Red Bull's ranks coinciding with Verstappen sweeping all before him. The domino effect of Sebastian Vettel's departure from Ferrari also means McLaren finally lands another of its 2018 targets in Ricciardo, so everyone is happy - save, probably, for Vettel.

But this is not only about luck, as important as that always is in F1's 'right place right time' games of musical chairs. Sainz has had to work hard to get here, while navigating some pretty rough bumps in the road. Superficially, of course, he enjoys the gilded background many of motorsport's aristocracy do: son of the Carlos Sainz - rallying god, known as 'The Matador' - and supported by Red Bull from the earliest days of his career. But F1 is not a world familiar to Spain's rallying king, so the journey has still been difficult for the younger Sainz, and that has been the making of him.

At one stage, despite obvious ability behind the wheel, it looked as though Sainz might not make it to F1 at all. He was on Red Bull's junior programme at the same time as Daniil Kvyat, and despite Sainz beating Kvyat comfortably in Formula BMW and Formula Renault (though both were defeated by Robin Frijns) it was Kvyat who subsequently caught Marko's attention with a stirring against-the-odds title win in GP3 and dazzling guest outings in European Formula 3, earning graduation to F1 with Toro Rosso in 2014.

After winning the North European Formula Renault title in 2011, Sainz showed indifferent form in British F3 (superb in the wet but otherwise struggling with Carlin's new Dallara F312) and was then roundly trounced by Kvyat in GP3. His career momentum stalled.

Four crucial performances saved Sainz. First, a stunning Formula Renault 3.5 debut in 2013 at Monaco, of all places, where he used tips from a track walk with Alonso to qualify fifth for the unfancied Zeta Corse team. Less than two months later, Sainz tested impressively in Red Bull's Formula 1 car at Silverstone, wowing the engineers by quickly matching Vettel's pace.

Sainz can handle pressure, and pressure is an occupational hazard of the highest order when you race for Ferrari in Formula 1...

The following year, Sainz moved to DAMS and won the Formula Renault 3.5 championship - as demanded of him by Marko in one of those 'win it or we bin you' tales for which Red Bull's motorsport advisor has become infamous. Sainz then impressed again in a crucial end-of-season F1 tyre test for Red Bull in Abu Dhabi.

At each stage Sainz's career was on the line, but he found a way to come through 'in the clutch', as they say in basketball. This guy can handle pressure, and pressure is an occupational hazard of the highest order when you race for Ferrari in Formula 1...

He also knows exactly what it's like to test your mettle against a once-in-a-generation super talent in the same F1 team and hold his own. Verstappen's rise to Red Bull's A-squad always felt like something almost pre-ordained because of the unusual way in which he was recruited then immediately promoted to Formula 1.

In fact, Verstappen's sudden arrival into the Red Bull scheme in the autumn of 2014 initially dealt a severe confidence blow to Sainz, who at that time couldn't know of Vettel's plans to move to Ferrari so could see his own shot with Toro Rosso disappearing, despite leading the FR 3.5 championship.

Sainz nevertheless found the inner strength to get the job done and earned promotion to F1 after that Abu Dhabi test, thanks to Vettel's decision to move on and Marko's decision to promote Kvyat while releasing Jean-Eric Vergne. Regardless, at Toro Rosso it still felt as though Sainz would have needed to absolutely bury Verstappen to get ahead of the Dutch wonder kid and, let's face it, Verstappen has proven time and again that he's simply too good for that.

Still, Sainz managed to send clear signals of his own, quieter star quality. He scored points on his F1 debut in Australia; qualified an incredible fifth - ahead of the Red Bulls - for his home race in Spain; and finished tenth from a pitlane start in Monaco. Too often he was simply badly let down by the awful unreliability of the 2015 Renault engine.

But the signs were still there that here was a rookie worth reckoning with. Sainz went all out at the season finale in Abu Dhabi to beat Verstappen into Q3 (by just 0.039 seconds) and win their qualifying head-to-head battle 10-9. Red Bull was pleasantly surprised by how quick Sainz was compared with Max.

The following season, armed with consistent year-old Ferrari power, Sainz took a step forward and began to get properly under Verstappen's skin. Two sons of famous fathers, both with strong personalities of their own, created extra pressure behind the scenes at Toro Rosso, but the tension eased with Verstappen's sudden promotion to Red Bull in place of Kvyat for the Spanish Grand Prix, in which Max became F1's youngest ever race winner.

Kvyat went to pieces on his return to Toro Rosso, confidence shredded by a feeling of injustice at being so suddenly and unceremoniously demoted. With Verstappen out of the picture, Sainz came out of his shell and became the team's leading light, racing tenaciously - if sometimes a little too aggressively - in the best traditions of Alonso; scoring points regularly and improving his craft by racing a car that lacked for aerodynamic development and received no upgrades whatsoever to its engine.

This was the first point at which Sainz started attracting serious interest from rival teams, so Red Bull moved swiftly to extend his contract for three more seasons and scare off the vultures. But Sainz himself was beginning to get restless.

He made a strong start to 2017 too under F1's new aerodynamic rules, maintaining a clear edge over Kvyat and putting in some mighty performances - including a stunning drive to 'best of the rest' in mixed conditions in China. Incidentally, driving in such weather has always been a major strength of this rally driver's son...

Momentum firmly with him, Sainz began to agitate for a move away from Toro Rosso, publicly calling it "unlikely" that he would become the first driver to do a fourth consecutive campaign with Red Bull's junior outfit.

Red Bull disliked what it felt was a lack of gratitude for the support Sainz had received throughout his career so far, but Helmut Marko saw the chance to appease all parties by using Sainz as a makeweight in the deal struck in the autumn of 2017 to secure an early exit from Toro Rosso's Renault customer engine contract so Red Bull could do reconnaissance on Honda's engines.

This is another important aspect of Sainz's character, and the mentality of the support network around him - they are not prepared to simply settle for what's there and wait for chances to be handed to them. Sainz is willing to try to make things happen for himself and take his destiny in his own hands. Again, this mirrors Alonso's approach. It is not without its risks, but who dares often wins in this game - and Sainz can now claim to be the only ex-Toro Rosso driver still racing in F1 who hasn't raced for Red Bull.

Sainz probably looks back on his time at Renault with mixed feelings. It started superbly with an outstanding performance on his debut for the team at Austin - always one of Sainz's stronger circuits - but he found it difficult to hit that sort of peak regularly over the next 24 races.

Again, he was let down by poor reliability occasionally, but although that explains part of the 16-point gap to Hulkenberg in the 2018 drivers' championship, it can't disguise the fact Hulkenberg was internally considered the quicker of the two over the full course of the campaign. Nevertheless, Sainz impressed sufficiently to be retained had the relationship between Renault and Red Bull not broken down so quickly and irrecoverably.

Sainz found the 2018 Renault inconsistent and unpredictable from circuit to circuit, but in fairness to him this was also the first time in his F1 career he'd switched teams. Making yourself properly comfortable so you can exploit your full potential is not the work of a moment, even in better-established front-running outfits, and it is even more difficult when there is a strong character on the other side of the garage who has a head start on you in terms of integration.

Armed with more experience and a two-year contract for 2019, and heading into a McLaren organisation with a clearer idea of its direction Sainz flourished, becoming a much more complete and consistent performer

Leclerc bucked the trend against Vettel at Ferrari last year really, but Lewis Hamilton found 2013 tough alongside Nico Rosberg, who'd been with Mercedes since 2010, and although Verstappen won his very first race for Red Bull, he admitted to needing to follow Ricciardo's set-up direction for most of their first season together in 2016, when Ricciardo was the grid's outstanding driver. Only two years later, after Verstappen had negotiated a new contract and gone through his early-2018 'trying too hard' phase, did he definitively gain the upper hand.

What's more, Renault has been a team in regular flux since it returned from the ashes of Lotus in 2016, no doubt making the process of adjustment even more complicated for Sainz. Armed with more experience and a two-year contract for 2019, and heading into a McLaren organisation with a clearer idea of its direction - plus a rookie team-mate in Norris - Sainz flourished, becoming a much more complete and consistent performer.

The MCL34 was a good car, more predictable and thus better suited to Sainz's driving style, and he relished his role as the lead driver in the squad, much as he did at Toro Rosso in 2016-17 while Kvyat was all at sea. Schooled by his father, Sainz has always had a keenness for technical understanding and attention to detail, and he helped drive development of the MCL34 in a positive direction while also forming a constructive and friendly working relationship with McLaren's young charger Norris.

This was Sainz 2.0: fast, relentless in races, Alonso-esque in some of his better drives - such as in Japan where he forced Leclerc to give up a chase of fifth place - but also now mature enough to see the bigger picture and his own place within it.

As James Key, McLaren's technical director, puts it, Sainz has "done the rounds" by racing for three different F1 teams, and with it found his self-confidence, and his voice. This is perhaps the first time we saw the true Carlos Sainz in F1; performances and personality not constrained by the pressure created from a career constantly hanging by a thread. Sainz was energised by the support of McLaren management through a couple of tough early races, and has described 2019 as his best season in F1, and the one he has most enjoyed thus far.

The timing of this evolution could not have been better. While Sainz was rising to become Formula 1's standout driver outside the top three teams last year - and arguably the best performer on the grid after Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc - Sebastian Vettel was busy imploding his own Ferrari career. Mattia Binotto clearly saw Sainz as a fast, highly capable, experienced alternative, so pounced.

Binotto admits the Scuderia is entering a rebuilding phase as it recognises the present limitations of Maranello's technical capabilities and how it may be compromised competitively for at least the next two seasons thanks to F1's new restrictive realities. Having someone of Sainz's constructive character, who isn't yet at the stage of his career where it's win or bust, will be a useful addition to that project - perhaps more so than drivers like Vettel and Ricciardo who don't have so much time on their side.

Negotiations between Sainz and Maranello's top brass accelerated (with Zak Brown's blessing) after Ferrari decided not to renew Vettel's contract in the spring, and now Sainz must accept one final McLaren mission before taking on the biggest challenge of his career so far.

Quiet and shy when he started in F1, he now looks like a seriously strong driver with the personality, additional experience, inner steel and mental toughness to succeed. It's never easy at Ferrari, but that's exactly why Sainz could turn out to be just the right man for the job.