In his role as the new director of the Formula One drivers’ association GPDA, Carlos Sainz wants to advocate for more testing opportunities for young drivers
Carlos Sainz has presented his first proposals for the promotion of young drivers in Formula One as the new director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA). The Spaniard is advocating a more efficient use of existing budgets to create more testing opportunities – an approach that reflects his general approach to representing the interests of drivers.
Sainz, who is moving from Ferrari to Williams for the 2025 season, was recently appointed to the GPDA board to succeed Sebastian Vettel. He will serve on the board alongside Alexander Wurz (chairman), George Russell and legal advisor Anastasia Fowle.
During the test drives in Bahrain, Sainz talked about his motivation for the engagement: “Now, at 30 years old and with ten years of Formula One experience, I am really starting to understand how this sport works,” said Sainz. “As for the collaboration between the drivers, FOM [Formula One Management] and the FIA [Automobile World Federation], I can make a valuable contribution with my experience.”
Criticism of limited testing opportunities for rookies
One of Sainz’s main concerns is the limited testing time for young drivers. From 2025, teams will be allowed to drive a maximum of 1,000 kilometers over four days with older Formula 1 cars as part of the “Testing of Previous Cars” program (TPC). By comparison, Lewis Hamilton covered around 8,000 test kilometers before his Formula 1 debut in 2007.
Sainz sees room for improvement here: “Many teams spend enormous sums on simulators. Drivers regularly fly from Monaco to England to test there. I don’t understand why there are only three days of winter testing when this money could also go towards eight to ten days of testing. You could include the number of test days and also the use of simulators in the budget limit and leave it to the teams to decide where they spend their money.”
Sainz argues that this would benefit both rookies and teams, as simulations cannot fully replicate reality: “As good as simulators are, they don’t replace driving on the track. I would always favor testing – and for the new drivers it would be especially important.”
The GPDA is committed to further topics
In addition to testing opportunities, Sainz says there are other topics on the GPDA’s agenda for 2025. These include, among other things, how the FIA deals with driver statements, the application of penalties and the use of fines.
Sainz emphasized that some of these topics are treated confidentially. Others, such as the open letter from the GPDA in November 2024 or the latest appeal from the rally drivers to FIA President Mohammed bin Sulayem, are discussed publicly.
