Today, Scuderia Ferrari HP bid farewell to Carlos Sainz and his family in a very special way at the Fiorano track. Early this morning, Carlos and his father arrived at the track where all Ferrari cars have been tested for over half a century, both of them armed with race suits, helmets and gloves. Awaiting them in the garage were two 2022 F1-75s.
Another debut. After a quick briefing it was time to fire up the first of the two cars and, at 9.45, three years and 324 days after his son made his first appearance in red on 27 January 2021, it was the turn of Carlos Sainz Senior to make his debut at the wheel of a Ferrari Formula 1 car. The rally and rally raid champion had already driven a Grand Prix machine but that was almost twenty years ago. Although he spun the car, Senior soon found his rhythm, completing several runs doing consistent lap times. At mid-morning, his son also went out on track, reacquainting himself with the car with which he took his maiden Formula 1 win at the 2022 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Parade. Father and son then went back on track for some laps run in formation. During his four seasons with the team, he took part in 88 races, winning four times, taking six pole positions and 25 podium finishes, scoring 900.5 points.
Ending with a ’55 735 LM. Next on the agenda, the Sainz duo switched from the modern to the historic, an amazing 735 LM, now run by the Ferrari Classiche department, which raced in the Mille Miglia in the hands of Piero Taruffi and the Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Harry Schell and Maurice Trintignant. The year it was built? 1955 of course, a perfect match for the younger Spaniard’s race number. This unforgettable day at Fiorano was rounded off with a group photo, and the Sainz family was keen to have Charles Leclerc and Fred Vasseur join them in the picture.