F1 Half Term Report: Rate the Grid - Carlos Sainz

[Paul Jeffrey]

It must be difficult to lift yourself from a shadow as large as rally legend Carlos Sainz, and with another strong start to the season behind him Carlos Sainz Jr. seems to be doing just that..

Now in his third season for Toro Rosso in Formula One, Carlos Sainz Jr. has firmly established himself as a strong talent with a potentially bright future ahead of him. Having been overlooked for the main Red Bull drive in place of his former team mate Max Verstappen, young Carlos Sainz has regrouped in impressive style to continue performing at a very high level and regularly pushing his car into higher positions than it realistically should be capable of finishing.

Having effectively destroyed the remaining reputation of team mate and outgoing Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat this season, Sainz firmly has an eye on a berth further up the grid in seasons to come.

With a bit of a reputation for being hard to deal with matched together with blistering pace and racecraft, is Sainz doing enough to earn his place in the spotlight for 2018?

Vote now to tell us how you rate the first half of 2017 for Carlos Sainz, and leave a comment below!

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[Short_Circut]

Definitely shown his pace in a few races so far although his current situation in getting into Red Bull is quite difficult since both Riccardo and Max are doing very well (when their cars are actually working)

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

I feel like Sainz is talented but has become a bit overrated, this season he is performing well again but nothing spetacular IMO.

 

[Thang Nguyen]

He's trying his best to overcome the limitations of the Toro Rosso car.
And he is so dominant to his teammate, Kvyat.
He is a talented driver, so I may call him "Alonso 2.0"
I give him 8.

 

[formidable]

9 or 10. Is extracting the 200% from the car.

 

[Jan Larsen]

8. Doing the best he can, and extracting the most of out the car as can be expected. It can be argued he's not pushed enough by a weak teammate though. Not quite ready for a top drive yet, but its close. Had a spat with Redbull management with arguably a valid case, but with Verstappen and Ricciardo in the senior team, he's sh*t out of luck. Cause he's not better than any of them.

 

[Monstro]

He's trying his best to overcome the limitations of the Toro Rosso car.
And he is so dominant to his teammate, Kvyat.
He is a talented driver, so I may call him "Alonso 2.0"
I give him 8.

Alonso 2.0 ?
im not agree with you mate
Sainz will be lucky if someone one day call him Alonso 0.6 Version.
There is a galaxy between Young Alonso and Carlos Sainz , come on...

I rated him 5, crash many times, never his fault, always someone 'else fault.
He 's nowhere compare to verstappen wich is the one he should be compare with
One thing is sure, he's fast, but it's not enough, and by far
his moove to Renault next year will tell us more about him after a season fighting Hulkenberg

 

[Monstro]

Fail
can this be deleted by an admin please, cannot do it myself, or do not see how.

 

[leichti]

I think Sainz is one of the fastet drivers in the field.

 

[Klodian Stafa]

is to good for toro rosso

he should get himself out of the rb program and move to a good team

 

[James Cook]

A natural talent. His path to Red Bull looks blocked for a while yet so it will be interesting to see where he goes next.

So what if he's a bit difficult to deal with? Sainz is on a well-trodden path in F1 if that's the case.

 

[Rob]

He's trying his best to overcome the limitations of the Toro Rosso car.
And he is so dominant to his teammate, Kvyat.
He is a talented driver, so I may call him "Alonso 2.0"
I give him 8.

Nice way to put it. I'd say he's definitely now in the Raikkonen, Vettel, Alonso category. In fact, he is performing at a level similar to Alonso, getting absolutely 100% out of his car. This is a no brainer for any serious team who wants the best driver for the next decade. Hardly noticed is the way he takes care of his car. Rarely an off, or even an unnecessary mechanical failure...he's fast and careful, which is invaluable in F1, and rare in a driver.

9 (only Fernando is a 10)

 

[tonio duran]

I do not understand who criticizes has Carlos Sainz is a pimp a better person looks at the times that Verstappen has gotten involved with him and the always very gentleman. A 10 and 10 as seve person that around here a kvyat fans.

 

[Monstro]

Nice way to put it. I'd say he's definitely now in the Raikkonen, Vettel, Alonso category. In fact, he is performing at a level similar to Alonso, getting absolutely 100% out of his car. This is a no brainer for any serious team who wants the best driver for the next decade. Hardly noticed is the way he takes care of his car. Rarely an off, or even an unnecessary mechanical failure...he's fast and careful, which is invaluable in F1, and rare in a driver.

9 (only Fernando is a 10)

For the first time since i read you on RD Rob, i'm not agree.
i may be wrong , we will see.
as i said previously,he's very fast,no doubt about it
But is it enough ?
he has some difficulty to recognize his own errors, problems are often difficult to solve with people who don't admit any fault from their side
His starts are not good, he has to improved in the first lap a lot
Like Fernando said at Montreal : "this is not bowling"

He's very young also, so let's see next year against a confirmed driver like Hulkenberg

excuse my english guys.

 

[oorjit07]

He's definitely one of the talents of the future, though he needs to sort himself out. This season has been one with a ridiculous number of crashes, which won't make it easy for Marko and Horner to promote him.

 

[spark23]

 

[Coffer]

4. His pace has improved slightly since the early part of the season when he was being matched by Kvyat despite his teammate's inferior reliability, but his ego has gotten to his head and he's crashier than ever. He has no place at Red Bull - Toro Rosso is as good as it'll ever get for him.

 

[Michel Forest]

6. He's fast, but his attitude sucks. He obviously thinks very highly of himself. I'm sure team managers are taking note of the fact that you could probably hire another driver with the same speed but without the attitude.