Carlos Sainz: Fernando Alonso career parallels 'a coincidence'

Ferrari

Sainz: Alonso career parallels 'a coincidence'

Sainz has mirrored Alonso's career path through teams so far

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Sunday 21 February 2021 16:15

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz has insisted the parallels between the careers of himself and Fernando Alonso are nothing but a coincidence.

Alonso entered Formula 1 with Minardi and has since raced with Renault, McLaren and Ferrari. In 2015, Sainz made his F1 debut with Toro Rosso - formerly Minardi - and has since also raced for the same three teams as his countryman.

Of the similarities, Sainz explained: "First of all, it’s tricky because I’ve already been at Renault but I didn’t get the two world championships.

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"I think careers are always impossible to compare because you don’t join the teams at the same time, it’s completely different timeframes, completely different rivals, everything.

"But what I know is that one day I want to fight for a world championship and I want to get myself into that position as quickly as possible and as early as possible, because I feel ready for the challenge.

"He’s been an extremely strong driver but there’s never going to be another Fernando Alonso, he was the first one, the pioneer in many ways, and I’m just trying to do my own career, my own way of doing things, of seeing things, of driving and I’ll see where that gets me.

"But apart from those coincidences, I don’t see anything to reflect. I want to do it my own way and see where it can get me."

Alonso makes his return to F1 this season with the rebranded Alpine team, aiming to be more competitive than his previous spell with McLaren.

Sainz revealed Covid has stopped him from discussing his new drive with the two-time champion but hopes to be able to do so in the future.

"One thing that Covid has made, it’s obviously made these kinds of relationships more distant and there’s honestly no time to catch up on the phone," he added.

"I haven’t met with Fernando in person at all over the last year, or even two years, since he has also been busy.

"But I am sure at some point when all this finishes we will manage to catch some dinner together and maybe we can have a conversation about it, but up until now, honestly, I’ve been so busy and with the Covid restrictions and everything it’s not been possible to meet each other. At the moment, no."