Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz have reunited to test karts from over the past 100 years in a video for the 2025 champion’s Quadrant YouTube channel.
The former team-mates began their track test with a classic 1959 Twin Vill. They were given an out-lap and then one flying lap to clock their time in each kart. Norris was up first in the 1959 machinery. “He’s actually pushing,” a surprised Sainz said as he watched the McLaren driver.
“That was a workout not to fall out,” Norris said after completing the flying lap in 1 minute on the dot. “I found in the end, you have to lean in. You have to, or else you’ll fall out the kart.”
Sainz took the win in the first head-to-head with a time of 59.62 seconds in the 1959 Twin Vill, before they moved on to the 1968 HKS. After the first kart, they alternated between the different decades of karts. The Spaniard took to the seat of the 1968 HKS and managed to shave almost six seconds off his time in the 1959 machinery.
“The engine is like a proper engine,” Sainz said with a big grin on his face. “But it has no brakes. Like zero. Like I was almost out of the seat.”
As they progressed into the 1970s era of machinery, there was a clear step forward in performance and driver comfort. Getting in the 1979 DAP chassis, which is a replica of the machinery once raced by three-time F1 champion Ayrton Senna, Norris clocked a lap time of 51.68s.
They continued through the different eras of karting, getting behind the wheel of a 1989 Birel Parilla TT36, a 1996 CRG Kalifornia, a rare 2000 CRG Millennium and a 2010 Fernando Alonso-IAME X30.
Finally, the drivers went head-to-head in their 2026 karts with the LN Racing Kart and CS55 kart. Sainz went first and clocked an impressive time of 41.40s, but it was Norris who took the final victory with a time of 40.91s.
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– The Motorsport.com Team