Carlos Sainz ahead of his home GP in Madrid: “It’s absolutely mad to race here”

“I’ve always dreamt of this,” says Carlos Sainz about the Spanish Grand Prix in his home city, Madrid. The 32-year-old Spaniard continues: “This is a highlight of my career. Of course, it was lovely to race in front of my fans in Barcelona, but having a Grand Prix here is simply something else.”

The fifth-placed driver in the World Championship in 2021, 2022 and 2024 (with Ferrari) knows that finishing in the top ten will be difficult given the competitiveness of his 2026 Williams. He scored his last World Championship points to date in May, finishing ninth in the Canadian Grand Prix.

A nice touch: for the premier class’s first appearance in Madrid since 1981, Williams is lining up with a special livery reminiscent of the car colours of Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann, when the two GP aces raced at Jarama, 30 km north of Madrid, in the early 1980s.

Ahead of a race weekend where he can sleep in his own bed, Carlos Sainz says: “It’s quite mad – this is where I drove my first kart race as a ten-year-old and dreamt of becoming a Formula 1 driver. And now we’ve got a Grand Prix in my city; it’s absolutely mad to be driving Formula 1 here, and I can’t wait to finally get out on the track.”

“I’ve driven the circuit in a private car, but it wasn’t finished back then. My work in the racing simulator was more realistic. But you only get the real feel for it when you’re actually driving. I think this is a circuit with character and a very special atmosphere; it’s very demanding, and I reckon we’ll enjoy it.”

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“I know we’re not having an easy time of it at Williams at the moment. And I hope this is just a taster, so that in 2027 we can achieve more with what will hopefully be a more competitive car.”

“We’ll have improvements to the car in Baku; I’m really looking forward to this update. It should help us get back into the top ten, as we were at the start of the season. But after this update, all our attention will be on the 2027 car.”

“I’ve committed to Williams for the long term because I believe in this team and because I feel we’re capable of more. We’ve learnt some lessons in 2026, and that too will help us to be a better team. But we need to fight back in 2027 and have a good year. We have to prove that 2026 was just a blip. We’ve fallen well short of our potential; that has to change.”