Sainz ditches his Ferrari collection for a custom Fiat Topolino on Monaco streets

Williams F1 driver Carlos Sainz has traded his Ferrari-stacked garage for something considerably more modest on the streets of Monaco, spotted commuting around Monte Carlo in a customised Fiat Topolino beach car.

The Topolino is a doorless, two-seat electric quadricycle with a top speed of 28mph — a world away from the 812 Competizione, Daytona SP3, Purosangue, and SF90 XX Spider that populate Sainz’s personal collection. Footage shared on social media showed the 31-year-old and his partner, Scottish model Rebecca Donaldson, in a version personalised with a tartan roof, side ropes, and hot red bodywork. The tartan theme continues inside, with headrests embroidered with the couple’s initials.

Fans were quick to react online. “Love the tartan top… Love this nod to Rebecca Donaldson,” one Instagram commenter wrote, while another noted the embroidered seats. Other responses ranged from “It’s so cute and convenient — so why not!” to “It is the best car in Monaco.”

The Topolino sits at the opposite end of the spectrum from the rest of Sainz’s collection, which also includes a McLaren 720S, a Renault Mégane RS Mk3, and a Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk6 — the last of which holds particular sentimental value.

“My first road car was a Golf GTI that my parents gifted me for my 18th birthday. I still have it. It remains my car when I’m in Madrid,” Sainz said in an interview for Adam Hay-Nicholls’s My Life in Cars. “It’s one of the best cars I’ve ever driven, because the quality of the engineering is really high, it’s got a massive boot but fits in small parking spaces, and it’s more than fast enough. The more I drive it, the more I love it, and I’ll never sell it.”

His Monaco runaround may lack the horsepower of his other machines, but in the narrow, congested streets of the principality, a 28mph electric two-seater arguably makes more practical sense than a Daytona SP3.