Carlos Sainz Jr was set on the path to Formula 1 early, the Spaniard growing up with a racing mentality with two-time world rally champion father Carlos Sainz Sr and earning a junior partnership with Red Bull.

The driver has had a long road to his current seat alongside Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, having come up through the karting circuit and the Red Bull junior programme.

At 26, he has already been in Formula 1 for six seasons and is looking to challenge for titles with the Scuderia.

But how did Carlos Sainz get into F1?

Here is everything you need to know about the biography of Carlos Sainz.

Early Career

Sainz kicked off his motorsport career with karting, competing across his native Spain and winning multiple trophies including the Asia-Pacific KF3 title and the Junior Monaco Kart Cup.

In 2010, he moved up to open-wheel cars to race with the EuroInternational team in the Formula BMW Europe competition, and that year also signed a deal which brought him into the Red Bull set up.

Overall that season he secured two wins and three pole positions over the course of nine races, including a win on his debut weekend, which caught the attention of Red Bull development head Helmut Marko.

He continued to race in the series the following year as well as the UK Formula Renault Winter Cup, before getting a call up to race for Carlin in the British and Euro Series Formula 3 championships for 2012.

That year with Carlin he scored four race wins and finished on the podium nine times, finishing sixth overall in the British championship and ninth in the Euro series.

For 2013, Sainz joined Arden, the team co-owned by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, to help him develop as a member of the junior programme.

Driving alongside future Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat, Sainz had an up and down season, struggling to consistently score points despite a podium in Valencia after starting from 4th.

He also raced in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, but during 2013 missed out in multiple weekends due to retirements, and for 2014 he switched teams to DAMS.

He won that year's second round in Monza, and followed that up with a victories at Aragon and Spa. Sainz ultimately extended his championship lead and a win in France helped him towards the title.

2013-2017: F1 Call Up and Red Bull

During the 2013 season, Sainz had tested for both Red Bull and Toro Rosso as part of the Young Drivers' Test at Silverstone that season, and for 2015 his performances earned him a call to race for Toro Rosso in F1.

Driving alongside Max Verstappen following Kvyat's promotion to Red Bull, Sainz made a solid impression on his race debut, finishing ninth.

However, at that year's Russian Grand Prix during the third practice session, he lost control of the car at Turn 13 and slammed into the wall, causing him to spend the night in hospital.

Despite the crash, Sainz competed in the race, though he did not finish, and went on to score his last points of the year with 7th at the United States Grand Prix, finishing his maiden season 15th in the Drivers' Championship.

He was retained by Toro Rosso for the 2016 season, and while he managed to score points more consistently, he still suffered a dry streak of in the middle of the season, and finished 12th overall in the standings with a total of 46 points.

The following year, Sainz was comfortably within the top 10 for much of the season, including seventh in Australia and Spain, sixth in Monaco and fourth in Singapore.

However, he also suffered further retirements in Canada, after a crash with Roman Grosjean, and in Japan after another incident, and after failing to get promoted to the main Red Bull team, he signed a deal to join Renault in 2017.

2017-2018: Move to Renault

Leaving the Red Bull set up, Sainz switched to Renault for the 2017 season, partnering Nico Hulkenberg as the replacement for Jolyon Palmer.

That season he finished in the top ten for the first time in his career, up in ninth with Renault embroiled in a competitive midfield battle combining his points total with Toro Rosso.

However, there were still incidents such as when he retired from the race in Mexico due to steering issues after a spin in the high-speed section of the track, after which he wouldn't finish in the points for the remainder of the year.

In 2018, Sainz had good start to the season as he managed to finish in the points in five of the first six races, but still lagged his teammate Hulkenberg and he finished in the season tenth with 53 points.

2018-2020: McLaren

Sainz moved again for the 2018 season to replace his countryman, the retiring Fernando Alonso, at McLaren.

Driving alongside Lando Norris, Sainz had another tough start to life with his new team as he finished out of the points due to reliability issues in Australia and was involved in crashes in China and Bahrain.

However, after the rough beginnings, Sainz to grips with his new car and started to consistently score points, with the McLaren car proving capable of competiting at the top of the midfield.

The hard work was rewarded with a first F1 podium at the Brazilian Grand Prix, after he was promoted to the podium following a penalty given to Sir Lewis Hamilton after his crash with Alex Albon. Overall he finished sixth in the Drivers' Championship.

In the coronavirus-disrupted 2020 season, Sainz remained at Woking and kicked of the season with two fifth place finishes at the opening double header at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, setting a new track record in the process.

He was forced out of the British Grand Prix due to a tyre puncture and registered a did not start (DNS) at the race in Belgium due to a power unit issue, but Sainz would go on to register his best career finish of second during a hectic Italian Grand Prix.

Sainz had qualified in third and drove a strong race in which several safety cars were brought out to secure his spot on the podium, losing out by only a few seconds to the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly.

The Spaniard finished the 2020 season in sixth place for the second consecutive year, with a career-high 105 points and six top five finishes.

2021: Switch to Ferrari

During the 2020 season, Ferrari announced that they would not be renewing Sebastian Vettel's contract for 2021 and so the hunt was on for a replacement.

They eventually landed on Sainz, who left McLaren on a two-year deal with the Scuderia to partner Charles Leclerc from the 2021 season.