Madrid, August 16th 2018.- McLaren announced today the signing of Carlos Sainz, who will join the team from the 2019 season of the Formula 1 World Championship onwards on a multiannual contract.

Carlos will race for the second most successful team in the history of the sport, whose illustrious racing includes eight Constructors’ Championship and 12 Drivers’ titles.

The unique combination of youthness, experience and talent that Carlos embodies were a key factor in his signing for the Woking-based team, which in the past few months has expressed its admiration for the Spaniard driver on a number of occasions. He joins the British team at age 23, but ready to put his four years of experience in the series at the service of its new family to help it in its ambition to return to the pinnacle of the sport.

The Spaniard will arrive at McLaren after racing for the Renault Sport Formula One Team, where he has competed since the 2017 United States GP. He impressed in his first year with a lightning adaptation to the team and the car, and made a decisive contribution to the team’s sixth place at the Constructors’ Championship with a P7 at the Circuit of the Americas, his debut race with the team. In 2018 he built confidence, qualifying for 11 of the 12 Q3 sessions prior to the summer break and scoring 30 points in the process.

In the early stages of his career he raced for Scuderia Toro Rosso, where he scored 112 points across three seasons (despite not finishing the last one due to his move to Renault) to become the driver with the most points in the history of the Faenza-based institution. In his debut in the series, the 2015 Australian GP, he finished ninth. He put together his best Qualifying session at the 2015 Spanish GP, where he achieved a magnificent fifth place that would later be repeated at the 2018 Hungarian GP, this time as a Renault driver. Carlos scored his best-ever result at the 2017 Singapore GP, where he was fourth.

QUOTES

Carlos Sainz: 

"I’m delighted to finally be able to confirm that I’ll be a McLaren driver from the 2019 season. It’s something I’ve been looking at for a while and I’m very excited about this next chapter in my career".

"I’ve been a McLaren fan for as long as I can remember. It’s a great name in the sport with an incredible heritage, and the list of drivers that have raced for McLaren over the years are among the heroes of Formula 1, also with Fernando".

"It feels special to be the next generation of Spanish drivers at the wheel of a McLaren".

"Finally, I’d like to thank everyone at McLaren for giving me this opportunity to fulfil a childhood dream. The team has a long-term plan for the future and I’m very much looking forward to playing a key role in its journey back to success".

Zak Brown, Chief Executive Officer, McLaren Racing:

"We’re incredibly excited to have Carlos join us as a McLaren driver. We’ve been assessing him for some time now and rate him very highly among the next generation of young talent emerging through the ranks in Formula 1".

"Carlos brings with him the perfect blend of youth and experience. Although he’s just 23, he’ll be starting his fifth season in the sport with us and will bring with him a huge amount of racing experience, both in Formula 1 and with our partner Renault".

"We think he’ll be a great fit for McLaren and we’re really excited to have him join us from next season and beyond".

ABOUT MCLAREN F1 TEAM

McLaren’s origins date back to 1963 and a young entrepreneur from New Zealand, Bruce McLaren, who defined the philosophy that the team would follow to the present day. The team made its Formula 1 debut in 1966 and achieved its first win two years later. Bruce McLaren died in 1970 in a crash at the wheel of a Can-Am car, but his team carried on. In 1974 it achieved its first Formula 1 World Championship with Emerson Fittipaldi and the iconic M23. Ron Dennis took over in 1981 to lead the team through its most successful era, scoring six titles in eight years from 1984 to 1991, with historic drivers such as Niki Lauda, Ayrton Senna or Alain Prost.

McLaren is a legendary team that has participated in 833 races across the years, and as such it is placed in second in the historic rankings of the sport. Its racing record is the envy of the grid. Its cars have achieved 182 victories (2nd in the rankings), 155 Pole Positions (2º) and 153 Fastest Laps (2º). Its drivers have been on the podium on 485 occasions.

The headquarters of the McLaren F1 Team are in the town of Woking, United Kingdom, at a 500.000 square meter area that holds both the factory of the Formula 1 team and the one of McLaren Automotive, the road car division of the brand. The main shareholders of the team are the Royal Family of Bahrain and Mansour Ojjeh. Zak Brown and Jonathan Neale operate the Formula 1 team.