Carlos Sainz put up his name to be GPDA director as he feels it is the right time to be a leader, as George Russell welcomes the move.
Ahead of the F1 2025 pre-season testing, GPDA announced Sainz as its new director replacing Sebastian Vettel. The Spaniard joined Russell and Anastasia Fowle as directors, with Alexander Wurz being the chairman. The Williams driver himself came forward to take up the role.
When asked about the move, Sainz noted that during winter he came up with the thought to be one of the directors and so he approached Wurz to discuss. “More or less during this winter, I had a bit of time to reflect on things, and I was at home, and the idea popped up in my head that maybe it’s my time,” he said.
“Now that I’m 30, I have 10 years of experience in F1 and I start to understand how this sport works and the combination of the drivers, FOM and that link with the FIA, how, with my experience, I could potentially bring myself forward as a candidate. I had a meeting with Alex in Monaco in January. He obviously agreed and supported the idea.
“At the moment, we only had one driver director, that was George. I just felt like I was ready for it and to take over the role, and my pals here seem to agree and support it. So that made things even easier,” summed up Sainz, who when asked the changes he wish to see as a GPDA director, didn’t go into the details considering the list of things he has in mind.
He relayed the conduct topic which carries on from 2024. He even acknowledged the WRC drivers creating WoRDA to tackle the same problem. “Maybe we need a different interview for that,” said Sainz. “Just for me to go through the three or four things that we maybe need to work on and that we are going to take part of our time.
“Some of them are private issues that we’re trying to address in a private manner. Others are more public, like you’ve seen the letter that we posted and the support that we got from rally drivers not long ago. So it seems like we all seem to be in a similar mind frame in that sense. But yeah, I think it requires a different, a longer interview for that,” summed up Sainz.
Russell, meanwhile, welcomed Sainz’s move which eases his work slightly. He also feels that the drivers are more united than ever. “It’s great to have Carlos as part of the GPDA,” said Russell. “Obviously, he is a great driver, a really smart, wise individual – and has been around for a long time.
“And of course, in the past, there was always more than one driver director, but since Sebastian, it’s just been myself for the last couple of years, so I’m happy that the other questions can be shared out a little bit more evenly between me and another driver. But I think, for all of us as 20, we’re probably more united than ever, especially with everything that’s going on off track.
“And to have Carlos as one of the senior voices as well, I think is a great addition.” At the same time, Haas’ Esteban Ocon added: “Carlos has been a very experienced driver for many years, very successful. I think we are all happy that he stepped up, that’s why he is up there.”
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