Things don’t seem to be going Carlos Sainz’s way at all at the moment. Life at Williams has been tough, with only one points finish to show so far this season. That too thanks to the triple disqualification of Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and Pierre Gasly in China. On top of that, at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, he was fined by the FIA for a bizarre reason.
Before the weekend began, Alex Albon had joked that Sainz would be the most likely driver to be late for the national anthem. The uninformed reason he gave was deemed controversial and offensive — Albon had labeled the Spaniard as Latin American. But the British driver was spot on with his prediction.
Sainz was late for the anthem. His actual reason, however, was that he had some discomfort in his stomach. Surprisingly, the FIA still fined him $21,000 (€20,000). The original fine of $65,000 (€60,000) was reduced after Sainz produced a note from his 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,” stated the FIA in its release about the decision. The governing body reiterated that drivers must be present and show respect during the national anthem before the race starts.
It ended up being an expensive trip to the toilet for Sainz. 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
The weekend had worse in store 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 Albon, the stewards correctly handed the penalty to car #55. That’s the standard punishment for impeding a driver on a flying lap.
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 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.
