A member of the Red Bull Junior Team since 2010, Sainz signed with Toro Rosso in 2015, debuting alongside Max Verstappen.

He remained at Toro Rosso until the 2017 United States Grand Prix, where he replaced Jolyon Palmer at Renault, having already signed with the team from 2018 onwards.

As of the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sainz has achieved four race wins, six pole positions, four fastest laps and 27 podiums in Formula One.

[15] Sainz started his career in karting in 2006, after participating in smaller series, in 2008, he won the Asia-Pacific KF3 title, as well as finishing runner-up in the Spanish Championship.

[19] His first experience in a Formula One car came at the young drivers' test at Silverstone Circuit in July 2013, where he drove both the Toro Rosso STR8 and the Red Bull RB9.

[22] As a reward for his Formula Renault 3.5 Series title, Sainz drove the Red Bull RB10 in the post-season test after the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

[23] Sainz drove for Scuderia Toro Rosso in the 2015 season where he partnered Max Verstappen, following Daniil Kvyat's promotion to Red Bull.

Sainz was again handed a grid penalty for a first-lap collision with Romain Grosjean and Felipe Massa at the Canadian Grand Prix.

[32] Sainz spun on the first lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, attempting to avoid a collision with teammate Kvyat, and recovered to finish eighth.

[42] Sainz's move to Renault was brought forward and he replaced Jolyon Palmer and partnered Nico Hülkenberg at the team for the final four races of 2017, beginning with the United States Grand Prix where he started and finished seventh.

These results included the Azerbaijan Grand Prix where he took advantage of a collision between Red Bull teammates Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo to finish a season-high position of fifth.

[47] Sainz described his Monaco Grand Prix as a "disaster" and criticised the team's tyre strategy having started eighth and finished tenth.

[56] At the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sainz passed Hülkenberg on the final lap to take tenth place, scoring one point and earning sixth place in the drivers' championship, one point ahead of Pierre Gasly and four ahead of Albon, both of whom spent part of the season in the superior Red Bull.

A slow pit stop contributed to him dropping to ninth place by the finish, however Sainz achieved his first fastest lap in Formula One and in doing so set a new Red Bull Ring track record.

[59] Sainz was in fourth place with two laps of the British Grand Prix remaining but suffered a tyre puncture and was ultimately classified thirteenth.

He passed three cars and benefited from Lewis Hamilton's penalty to move up to second place behind Pierre Gasly with twenty laps remaining.

He started the Turkish Grand Prix in fifteenth place due to a penalty for impeding Sergio Pérez in qualifying, but gained six positions on the first lap and went on to finish fifth.

[65] Sainz joined Scuderia Ferrari on a two-year contract from the 2021 season partnering Charles Leclerc and replacing Sebastian Vettel.

[69] He took his third career podium and first with Ferrari at the Monaco Grand Prix, where he benefited from Leclerc's failure to start and a pit stop issue for Valtteri Bottas to finish second.

[75][76] He achieved his then-career-best qualifying position at the Russian Grand Prix, starting second, and took the lead from former teammate Lando Norris on the first lap.

He started at the back of the grid at the French Grand Prix after taking new engine components and finished fifth despite a time penalty for an unsafe pit release.

He took his second pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix, promoted to the front as Verstappen took an engine penalty, but dropped behind both Red Bulls to finish third.

He finished fourth at the Australian Grand Prix but was penalised and demoted to twelfth place for making contact with Fernando Alonso at the second restart.

[97] Sainz crashed in practice at the Canadian Grand Prix and was then penalised for impeding Pierre Gasly in qualifying, causing him to start the race eleventh.

He scored points again by finishing fourth in the Belgian Grand Prix sprint, but retired from the main race due to damage from a first-lap collision with Oscar Piastri.

Sainz led the entire race distance and he and former teammate Lando Norris held off Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps.

[103] Sainz scored points in the Qatar Grand Prix sprint, but qualified twelfth for the main race and then failed to start due to a fuel leak.

He qualified second at the Mexico City Grand Prix to make an all-Ferrari front row, but both cars were overtaken by Verstappen and Hamilton in the race.

He crashed in practice at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and placed sixteenth in qualifying, after which he accused other drivers of deliberately impeding him.

At the Bahrain Grand Prix, Sainz began the 2024 season by qualifying fourth and finishing on the podium in third, ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc.