Carlos Sainz has crossed a lot of finish lines in his career. But nothing quite like this one. As Formula 1 rolls into Madrid for the first time in over four decades, the Williams driver opens up about what it really means. 

Before Madrid, Sainz has raced at Barcelona 12 times and scored in the first ten of those outings. However, racing at Madring, which is 15 minutes from where he grew up, is a different story. 

While talking to Lawrence Barreto ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix at Madring, Sainz, looking back on his career, reflected on his experience of home races.

"I've been lucky enough to have a home race pretty much all through my career thanks to the Grand Prix in Barcelona," Sainz said during the interview, as reported by Formula One on their website. 

The No.55 Williams driver expressed how he feels racing at a track close to where he grew up. 

"The fact that it's a lot closer to my [family] home, only 15 minutes by car, and all my family and all my friends are from there, it's probably going to feel even more special."

Besides it being the first time Carlos Sainz gets to drive at a track in his hometown, he was also announced as the ambassador for the Grand Prix back in 2025 when the construction for the track began. He also helped update the circuit design. 

"If you would have told a little kid from Madrid that he will make it to F1 and, not only that, he will help to bring the Madrid GP back, I would have never believed it. It's a huge milestone in my career just to help bring a Grand Prix back to Madrid, not only being a Formula 1 driver or winning races in F1." 

From dreaming about a race in his hometown as a kid to helping build the track itself, Sainz will now race in front of everyone who knows him best. 

Carlos Sainz weighs in on the new Madrid circuit 

Unlike most of the grid, who are yet to get a proper feel for the track besides the simulator, Sainz already had the opportunity to take a lap around the newly built circuit back in May. 

While taking his initial laps around the Madring, the No. 55 driver had nothing negative to say about the track. However, he did not shy away from talking about how challenging the track has been. He spoke about the same in the aforementioned interview with Lawrence Barretto. 

"I had my first proper laps in the simulator with the car [in August] and I must say it's a hell of a challenging track," Sainz said during the interview. "It's one of the most challenging tracks I've ever done in a simulator and for a driver it's going to be tough."

Madring is a roughly 5.4km hybrid track with 22 corners, combining urban roads around IFEMA with a purpose-built section in Valdebebas. It has a long straight, fast linked corners, heavy braking zones and one enormous banked bend called the La Monumental. 

For a driver who's raced nearly every circuit on the calendar, that reaction says a lot about what Madring brings to F1, and it's already turning heads before a single competitive lap. 

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco