Revealed: How a now rival driver helped McLaren get back to winning ways

Sam Cooper 17 Nov 2024 10:45 AM

Carlos Sainz has been credited with McLaren's turnaround.

McLaren race engineer Tom Stallard has praised Carlos Sainz for the work he did to improve McLaren even if the Spaniard was not there to enjoy the benefit.

Sainz swapped Renault for McLaren in 2019 but departed just two years later after Ferrari came calling. But even in that time, Stallard said Sainz was a key part of McLaren’s turnaround.

McLaren race engineer praises Carlos Sainz for team’s turnaround

Unfortunately for Sainz, he appears to be building a reputation of leaving a team just before they become title contenders with Ferrari improving just as he heads for the door.

That is a similar situation to what occurred at McLaren with the team going on to be favourites for this year’s Constructors’ title.
But that would not have been possible according to Stallard who was Sainz’s race engineer during the latter’s time at McLaren.

“Certainly he improved McLaren, he was brilliant,” Stallard told the Beyond the Grid podcast. “When he joined McLaren, he’d been dropped by Renault, as it was at the time, and his stock in Formula 1, to be honest, wasn’t that high and I think that he helped McLaren improve a lot at the time when we really needed that.

“I think that we got him back on his feet and positioned him correctly as one of the top drivers in Formula 1.

“I think he’s clearly helped Ferrari as well and you know, genuinely, I’d say they’re a very realistic challenge in the Constructors’ Championship at the moment, and no small part of that should sit with him.”

Sainz’s trick of improving teams is one that Williams will hope to benefit from next season with James Vowles’ side winning the race to sign the in-form driver. Stallard believes that the technical side of the sport is one of Sainz’s biggest strengths.

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“Carlos is a brilliant driver to work with,” the Olympic silver medallist said.

“Carlos once said to me that when we asked him what his ideal job in Formula 1 was, he said race engineer before he considered that driver was an option.

“He loves the engineering and the technical side of Formula 1. It makes sense because his dad, Carlos Snr, was the same in rally.

“So I think they are getting someone who will really want to engage with the technical department. Who will want to join engineering meetings and help them be pushing in the right direction. He absolutely loves all that.

“Carlos is, probably of all the drivers I’ve worked with, the one I’ve stayed closest friends with when I stopped working directly with them.”

McLaren