Things don’t seem to be falling into place for Carlos Sainz at the moment. Life at Williams has been tough so far, with only one points finish—courtesy of only a triple disqualification for Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and Pierre Gasly. On top of that, at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, he was hit with a fine by the FIA for a rather bizarre reason.
Before the weekend began, Alex Albon joked that Sainz would be the most likely driver to be late for the national anthem. While his reasoning was deemed controversial and offensive (labeling the Spaniard as Latin American), Albon was spot on with his prediction.
Sainz’s actual reason for being late, however, was entirely different. It was because he had some discomfort in his stomach.
Surprisingly, the FIA still fined him $21,000 (€20,000), a figure brought down from $65,000 (€60,000), only after they got a note from the doctor.
“The driver stated that just prior to the anthem, he experienced discomfort due to a stomach issue, which delayed his appearance on the grid,” a part of the FIA’s statement from their decision document read.
Still, the FIA reiterated that, under all circumstances, drivers must be present and show respect during the national anthem before the race start. So, it ended up being an expensive trip to the toilet for Sainz just before anthem time. Even Jenson Button chimed in on Instagram, poking fun at the situation.
“That’s an expensive poo,” the 2009 F1 champion commented on Motorsport’s post about Sainz’s fine.
jenson gets it pic.twitter.com/HkpObXAnGW
— juno (@junoshipo) April 7, 2025
But it was that kind of weekend for the Madrid-born driver. In addition to the financial penalty, he was also hit with a three-place grid drop for impeding Hamilton’s Ferrari during qualifying.
Even though Hamilton mistakenly thought it was his teammate Alex Albon, the stewards correctly handed the penalty to car #55. That’s the standard punishment for impeding a driver on a flying lap—though it certainly wouldn’t have pleased Sainz.
Despite qualifying 12th, he had to start the Grand Prix from P15, effectively nullifying his chances of scoring points on a narrow circuit like Suzuka. Even after running long on the medium tires and switching to the soft C3 compound for the final 20 laps, the Spaniard couldn’t break into the top 10, ultimately finishing 14th.
On the contrary, Albon had a good result and somehow maintained his P9 position till the chequered flag. While the Thai-British driver sounded quite miffed on the team radio due to multiple issues on his FW47, he brought home two crucial points for Williams.
