Carlos Sainz has received high praise after he met the young fan behind his lucky Sparkles helmet sticker, Thea.
To celebrate Thea’s seventh birthday, she took a tour of the Williams headquarters in Grove and met team principal James Vowles and Sainz. This all started when Sainz and his team-mate Alex Albon answered fan questions in a social media video in September 2025.
Thea asked Sainz if she should name her toy unicorn Sparkles or Sprinkles and if he would put a unicorn sticker on his helmet for the rest of the year, which he did. In his first race with the new addition on his helmet, he secured his first podium finish with Williams in Azerbaijan.
Now, the 31-year-old finally met the young fan and F1 fans cannot get enough of the heartwarming moment.
“Carlos is a class act in and out of the car,” one fan commented on Reddit, while another responded: “He is a perfect fit for the Williams team, James is a very classy guy as well. It’s good to see good people doing well.”
“Adorable! Look how tightly she surprise squeezed him,” someone else wrote, and another added: “I loved all of this. The guide for her and her mom was great. Always trying to be on her level. Vowles talking to her like she was an adult. And of course Carlos. Just amazing.”
Other comments included: “I think it took me 3x the time to watch the video of this because I had to keep stopping to dry my eyes, makes me so happy to see these feel good moments!” and “As if I needed more reason to love the guy.”
“That is heartwarming. We need more of this in the world. I love Carlos, I wish he would have stayed at Ferrari a bit longer, but I am rooting for him at Williams. Team Sparkles!” one commenter added.
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