Being a Formula One racing driver has its perks. A jet-setting lifestyle, the adulation of fans the world over, handsome pay (for the best of them anyway), and of course the coveted day job of getting to drive some of the fastest wheeled vehicles ever devised. But F1 drivers have also been known to have enviable road cars just handed to them for their enjoyment.

And they can be especially enjoyable for drivers who happen to work for teams that make their own street-legal supercars. Like McLaren, for example, which built this 600LT Spider specifically for its star hot-shoe Carlos Sainz, Jr.

The hardcore member of McLaren's entry-level Sports Series and the latest in an enviable line of long-tail supercars, the 600LT Spider packs a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 in the middle of its carbon monocoque chassis, sending 592 horsepower and 457 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. In the right hands, it'll run to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds and top out at 201 mph. And Sainz's are certainly the right hands.

The son and namesake of a legendary rally driver, Carlos Jr. came to McLaren this season after four years with Scuderia Toro Rosso and Renault...and he's already proving his worth.

Sainz just scored the team's first podium since 2014 (and the first of his own career) when he crossed the line in third place on Sunday. Though he must have ordered it long before, his new 600LT seems like a good way to celebrate. He had his painted in what looks like Borealis – a shade of green from the MSO Defined catalog that's so dark it's almost black. He also appears to have specced the optional carbon-fiber racing buckets, and had the seatbelts and brake calipers done up in McLaren's signature shade of orange. Looks good to us, and we hope he'll enjoy driving it as much as he did racing in Brazil this past weekend.