Carlos always had motor racing in his blood, first stepping into a kart at the age of 10 and quickly progressing through the karting ladder. Along the way he earned various accolades, including victory at the prestigious 2009 KF3 Monaco Kart Cup, a championship-winning season in the 2008 CIK-FIA Asia-Pacific KF3, and a runner-up finish in the 2009 KF3 Spanish Championship.
Carlos stepped up to single-seaters at 16 years old, debuting in Formula BMW Europe where he secured a win and four further podiums. The following season saw Carlos win his first championship, achieving 10 wins and seven more podiums in Formula Renault 2.0 NEC. He continued his climb through the junior ranks, culminating in a dominant Formula Renault 3.5 season where he clinched the title in his rookie year.
Following this impressive performance, Carlos was called up to Formula 1 with Scuderia Toro Rosso for the 2015 season. He began a three-year stint with the team, consistently showcasing blistering one-lap pace and developing strong race craft. Reaching a high of fourth place at the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix, Carlos switched to the Renault Sport F1 Team for the final four races of the season.
In his season at Renault, Carlos again showed his skill in qualifying, starting in the top ten for the first eight races of the season, and scoring points in all but one of these races. He achieved a season-best finish of fifth in Azerbaijan, then moved to McLaren for 2019.
The following two seasons at McLaren were breakthrough years for Carlos. He achieved his first F1 podium finish by taking third at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, then going one better at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix where he finished second. He ended both the 2019 and 2020 seasons sixth in the drivers’ championship standings.
2022 saw him progress further, securing his maiden victory at the British Grand Prix, alongside eight other podiums. Continuing his run of form in the 2023 season, Carlos won the Singapore Grand Prix, with two more podiums at the Italian and US GPs.
In his strongest season yet, in 2024, Carlos won the Australian Grand Prix in impressive circumstances, having just returned to the cockpit from an appendectomy. His second win of the year came in Mexico where he put on a dominant display; qualifying on pole and finishing almost five seconds ahead of the runner-up. Carlos concluded the season fifth in the drivers’ championship, stepping on the podium a further seven times.
In July 2024, Carlos announced that he would be joining Atlassian Williams F1 Team, committing his future to the team.
In his first season with the team, Carlos achieved 11 Q3 appearances, two Grand Prix podiums, and a Sprint podium. In Baku, Carlos delivered a stellar performance that saw him step on the podium with Williams, the team’s first full-race podium since 2017. In Austin, Carlos secured another P3 in the Sprint Race. Carlos’ third podium came in Qatar which secured the team P5 in the World Constructors’ Championship. Carlos ended the season P9 in the World Drivers’ Championship.