Every so often, race fans are gifted with a magical, beautiful moment that cuts through the rest of Formula One’s very frequent bullshit. We had one of those moments this past weekend at the Brazilian Grand Prix, when McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. drove from 20th place to a third-place podium position. Now you can watch the best parts of that drive without all the pesky other nonsense.
Formula One’s YouTube channel did us all a beautiful favor by putting together the onboards of every single overtake for position completed by Sainz Jr. And it is truly beautiful to watch.
Things certainly have not been easy for McLaren these past few years. Sainz Jr.’s podium is the team’s first since the 2014 Australian Grand Prix—a formidable lifetime ago in racing years. Several years full of DNFs, bad crashes, and just general disappointment later, and the team finally has something positive to appreciate.
I mean, yeah. There were some crashes and penalties that slotted Sainz Jr. into his final position. But that’s racing. Sometimes, a whole bunch of unforeseeable shit happens, and an unlikely candidate benefits from it.
But that still doesn’t take away from just how good the rest of Sainz Jr.’s race really was.