Carlos Sainz Jr. is hoping to put on a show in his home race, as the Formula 1 grid is in Spain for this weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
But the Williams driver also has his mind on events thousands of miles away.
Specifically, the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Ahead of both events, the Spanish driver shared this heartfelt message for the Spanish national team, as La Roja prepare to begin the World Cup:
Sainz is an avid soccer fan, and player. In the annual Racing Stars Football Cup, a charity match played every year before the Monaco Grand Prix, the Williams driver showed some touch of his own with this goal:
This weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix is the first of two races in Spain this season, as the grid will return to the country in September for the inaugural race in Madrid, at the new Madring Circuit in the city’s Barajas district. When we spoke with Sainz last month, the driver outlined how that should be a “special” event.
“I think Madrid is gonna be, I hope it’s gonna be, a special, special race,” said Sainz to me in May.
“I think it’s important that when a new track comes into a calendar that it has character, and it’s different. It’s charismatic. And I think Madrid from the laps I did the other day has quite a bit of that, has very interesting sections of a track with a massive banking corner that ends up in a huge compression that you only see the sky for a bit,” described the Spanish driver.
“So it has some interesting corners, and I’m hoping the event is gonna run well. We are used to creating or hosting pretty big events during the year. People say that Madrid is a great city, so I’m hoping that people will enjoy it.”
Perhaps the driver will be able to celebrate a World Cup with La Roja at that event.
