The father of F1 star Carlos Sainz flipped his car during the Dakar Rally and had to be rescued by a team-mate. The incident occurred in Saudi Arabia, with Sainz Snr almost an hour off the pace as a result.

Sainz Snr, who shares his first name with his son, is an iconic figure in motorsport, having won two World Rally Championships and four Dakar Rally titles throughout his career.

But the 62-year-old’s day didn’t go to plan in the first part of the Dakar Rally’s 48-hour stage on Sunday.

According to Autosport, Sainz’s Ford Raptor rolled over just after midday in Bisha, Saudi Arabia, after the Spaniard had attempted to navigate a sandy area at the exit of the dunes.

The incident, which occurred 327km into the near-1000km Stage 2, left him stranded in the desert and he had to wait for Ford team-mate Mitch Guthrie Jr to arrive on the scene to offer assistance.

Sainz had crossed the previous checkpoint in 15th position after starting the second test of the year in eighth place. He was able to resume after being helped by Guthrie, with the episode costing him a total of 23 minutes.

Footage of the incident was shared to X (formerly Twitter) by the Dakar Rally organisers, who wrote: “@CSainz_oficial flipped his Ford Raptor at km 327!

“Thankfully, the crew is unharmed and managed to get back on track, but the car took some heavy damage.”

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