Later this week Carlos Sainz Jr. will take to the track for Formula 1 pre-season testing, the next step in his journey with his new team, Williams.
But that is not the only new role the driver is taking on this season.
Sainz is joining the Grand Prix Drivers Association as a Director, filling a spot previously held by Sebastian Vettel, who retired from F1 in 2022. Sainz joins George Russell as a board member of the F1 drivers’ union, alongside legal consultant Anastasia Fowle, and former F1 driver Alex Wurz.
In a statement Sainz shared on social media, he stated that he is “passionate about my sport and think we drivers have a responsibility to do all we can to work with the stakeholders to forward the sport in many aspects.
“So I’m very happy and proud to do my part by taking on the directors’ role in the GPDA.”
“We are delighted to welcome Carlos as a GPDA director. He has been an active and engaged member of the GPDA for several years and we sincerely appreciate his commitment in stepping up to this vital role,” said Wurz.
This move comes at a critical time for the sport.
Ahead of the 2025 motorsport season the FIA — F1’s governing body — announced a sweeping set of changes to the Sporting Code, codifying penalties for “driver misconduct.” These changes follow the 2024 season, in which swearing became a flashpoint in F1. Max Verstappen was ordered to participate in community service after swearing in a press conference ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, and other drivers such as Charles Leclerc and Yuki Tsunoda were fined for swearing and using ableist language, respectively.
Under the new guidelines, drivers face escalating fines, suspensions, and even a deduction in Championship points for “misconduct,” including swearing. The first penalty was handed out at the World Rally Championship in Sweden recently when Adrien Fourmaux, a driver for the No. 16 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team, conducted a live interview with Rally.TV. During that interview, Fourmaux referenced a mistake he made during a previous stage. “I had a clean stage, the ruts are really tricky,” he said. “I think it will be difficult to do a good time. There is a lot of sweeping in the beginning. We f***ed up yesterday [referring to a stage 11 incident].”
Stewards fined Fourmaux €10,000, with an additional €20,000 fine suspended for one year, provided that Fourmaux “commits no further breach” of the updated Sporting Code regulations regarding behavior.
Last November, the GPDA submitted a letter to the FIA regarding the policing of language, demanding that they be treated as “adults.”
Speaking with the media, including SB Nation, at the United States Grand Prix last October Russell indicated that it was a bit “silly” that the swearing spat had escalated to that level. “Between the drivers a lot has been spoken regarding, you know, swearing. It does seem a little bit silly that it has come to this,” began Russell. “I mean, we’ve yet to speak with the FIA as of yet but we hope to do so probably next week, maybe, in Mexico.
“But collectively, we’re all on the same page. I think, yeah, next week we’ll probably formally put something towards you guys to read from the drivers.”
That was before the changes to the Sporting Code made ahead of this season.
When Williams unveiled the FW47 at Silverstone a few weeks ago — and after the imposition of the fine against Fourmaux — Sainz addressed the swearing controversy. While noting that in certain situations drivers should be mindful of their language, there are others where they should be free to express their full range of emotions.
“My honest opinion, in press conferences, drivers should be mature enough to control swearing. I don’t think we should be swearing in those situations,” began Sainz. “I am in favor of making an effort as a group – when all the kids are watching us in press conference or in front of the media – to at least have good behavior and decent vocabulary. I think that’s not very difficult.
“Do we need fines or do we need to be controlled for that? I don’t know, but I’m in favor of always being well-spoken and well-mannered in front of microphones and in front of media.”
Sainz then addressed in-car radio communications, which he believes are a much different story.
“At the same time, do I think this is too much for radio communication and the adrenaline and the pressure that we have inside the car? Yes, I think it’s too much what the FIA is trying to achieve with bans and everything,” said Sainz.
“Because for me that’s a fundamental part of the sport, where you guys get to see the real emotion and real pressure and the real excitement on the voice and even sometimes, unfortunately, a vocabulary of a racing driver.”
According to Sainz, what fans hear from drivers in those moments is part of the passion in F1.
“And as long as it’s not offensive words towards anyone and it’s just a swear word, where you just can see I’m being emotional, I don’t think that should be too controlled, because then you guys are going to miss out in a lot of stuff that we that we go through inside the car,” added Sainz.
“And trust me, you don’t want to put a microphone inside a football pitch and see what [players] are saying, which is an equivalent situation.
“It’s good to have those kinds of moments, because you see the real driver. We are already very constrained as to what we can tell you about our teams, about our situations. We already have a lot of media briefings. They already tell us what to say,” continued the Williams driver.
“Sometimes I’m not easy on the radio, but when you hear that passion, when you hear those words, even if sometimes we swear on the radio, for me that’s a keeper in F1, and that shouldn’t be something we should get rid of.”
In his new role with the GPDA, Sainz will have more influence in how the FIA handles and implements these changes to the Sporting Code.
Which, given his approach and thoughts on the matter, should be a very good thing.
