Carlos Sainz first rose to stardom via his top-notch performances at McLaren, and his excellent bonding with teammate Lando Norris. To capitalize on this growth in his popularity and share behind the scenes stories with his fans in his journey as an F1 driver, Sainz started a YouTube channel in 2019, one that has grown tremendously over the years, capturing his life at McLaren, then Ferrari, and now Williams.
It’s a measure that many F1 drivers have adopted over the years to boost their online presence. The likes of Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc, and Liam Lawson all have their own YouTube channels, which bring in millions of views.
An emotional weekend to wrap up the season and a very special chapter in my sporting career. The Abu Dhabi GP DONTBLINK is now on my YouTube channel!
Un fin de semana lleno de emociones para cerrar la temporada y una etapa muy especial de mi carrera deportiva. El DONTBLINK… pic.twitter.com/51NrttIPRF
— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) December 16, 2024
Sainz‘s teammate, Alex Albon, however, won’t go down that road—despite seeing the success the Madrid-born driver has had in this area.
On Williams’ Team Torque podcast, the duo spoke about Sainz’s existing channel and how he initially believed that liking and subscribing required payment. He was surprised to learn that all people had to do was press the red button. Since then, he has been encouraging fans to ‘do the least’ by liking and subscribing to his content.
Albon agreed, and asked viewers to do the same to both Williams’ and Sainz’s channel before casually revealing that he doesn’t have one of his own. “Yet”, Sainz reminded the Thai-British driver.
But Albon seemed sure about the fact that he would never have one. He added, “I don’t think I will.”
Sainz then tried to change his mind, saying, “We’re gonna make an Albono channel,” to which the 29-year-old simply replied, “It will be messy. There will not be much.”
Albon isn’t necessarily anti-social or inactive online. He posts regularly on Instagram, where he has over 3 million followers, and boasts more than a million on X (formerly Twitter). YouTube, however, would push him slightly out of his comfort zone—requiring him to record videos and appear on camera, unfiltered, to do what most other drivers are doing: make vlogs.
This doesn’t come as a surprise either, as Albon used to be a “shy” driver according to Mercedes’ George Russell. But the Briton did admit that he has grown a lot and could start his own podcast someday. So in all honesty, a YouTube career cannot be ruled out entirely.
