For most of the F1 drivers competing on the grid at the moment, an offer arriving from a legendary racing outfit like Ferrari is a dream. And this dream fell onto the doorsteps of former McLaren driver, Carlos Sainz, in 2020. Interestingly, his contract signing was nowhere near how he imagined it at all.

But, let’s look at how drivers usually sign contracts. For anyone who’s looking to put the pen to paper in a bid to sign a contract, we’d expect professionalism where the driver is sporting a very classic suit or even apparel designed by the future team.

However, in Sainz’s case, it was entirely the opposite. Instead of dressing up quite professionally, the Spaniard was wearing Pyjamas when he officially signed the contract.

What did Carlos Sainz say?

Speaking to Motorsport, Sainz revealed that the entire world was in the middle of a crisis amidst the wrath of COVID-19. Hence, the fact that he couldn’t travel to Italy meant that he had to stay with his family and sign the contract from his tiny home office in Madrid.

“It’s actually a bit of a funny story because it had been a long negotiation period,” he said. “It was during COVID. So talks were all done on Zoom and phone calls, which made everything a bit more tricky.

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“We had to adapt to the situation. And I signed it on the exact same table that I’m doing this interview now here in Madrid, in the little office that we have in the house. We had been spending all the lockdown together with the family, and then suddenly one day I wake up around 8 am. And I’m still in my pyjamas.”

My dad is ready with the pen: Sainz

Sainz was apparently still half-awake when he put his pen to paper. And it was his father, who handed him the contract in the first place.

“I come into this room, and I see that my dad is ready with a pen. He says: ‘You need to sign here: It is the Ferrari contract. And it’s done if you sign’. So I signed it in my pyjamas at 8 am, just after waking up! I was like ‘Okay, good morning to you too’,” Sainz concluded.

Maybe, keeping the contract signing lowkey was the right way to go for the Spaniard. Sainz, since then, has been at the top of his game, and still leading the teammate battle by 0.5 points after 16 race weekends. But, can he keep himself ahead of Charles Leclerc until the end of this season?

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