Williams Components 1 driver Carlos Sainz has defined how he separates his off-track friendships from his on-track rivalries, revealing that he solely sees rival automobiles moderately than the particular driver when he’s racing.
Talking in an interview with Individuals Journal, the Spaniard detailed the psychological strategy required to race towards drivers he commonly spends time with away from the circuit, equivalent to Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and his team-mate Alex Albon.
Sainz fashioned a well-documented, fan-favourite friendship with Norris, affectionately generally known as ‘Carlando’, throughout their stint as McLaren team-mates. Whereas the 2 stay shut and sometimes play golf and padel collectively, Sainz insists his private relationships are irrelevant as soon as he’s within the cockpit of his F1 equipment.
“We’re extraordinarily aggressive and once I put a helmet on, I wish to destroy Lando, and I wanna beat him and I wanna beat Alex, beat Charles, beat all of them,” the 31-year-old defined.
“And once I’m driving, I do not see Lando in entrance of me, I simply see a Ferrari or a McLaren, and I simply know I have to overtake him.”
He added: “However it’s true that if you take off the helmet, you’ll be able to see issues in relative, possibly not with the strain of getting the helmet on and racing to demise like we do.”
Carlos Sainz., Williams
Picture by: Eric Le Galliot
Presently in his twelfth season of F1, Sainz has pushed for a number of groups over time, together with Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls), Renault (now Alpine), McLaren, Ferrari and Williams.
After being changed at Ferrari by seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, Sainz signed with Williams alongside Albon.
The Grove outfit has had a troublesome begin to the 2026 season after it arrived at pre-season testing in Bahrain with an obese automobile. After the primary seven rounds, Sainz sits 14th within the drivers’ championship with six factors.
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