The Williams Formula 1 driver believes rallying's popularity is being restricted by its current promotion
Photography by Ford Racing & Girardo & Co. Archive
Words by Alasdair Lindsay, Head of Digital Strategy
Carlos Sainz Jr has pinpointed the disparity in TV format between Formula 1 and rallying as the reason he didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps, while highlighting rallying’s popularity would “skyrocket” if coverage improved.
Sainz, son of two-time World Rally champion Carlos Sainz Sr, joined Williams team-mate Alex Albon and the team’s F1 Academy driver Lia Block on the Team Torque podcast ahead of this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix – with rallying discussed at length.
Block had initially pursued rallying, following in the footsteps of her late father Ken Block, before switching to single-seater racing last year. Curious about why Sainz hadn’t done the same, she asked why.
The answer? The ease of watching F1 races in Spain as a child compared to following rallying.
“Growing up, on TV in Spain, what you had was Fernando Alonso,” Sainz explained. “So, Fernando Alonso winning races for Renault and winning world championships. At that stage my dad was just retiring from the World Rally Championship. He had won his world titles 10 years before, so even before I was born. So World Rally was big, my dad was big, but it was not on TV. So I couldn’t fall in love with rallying.
When Sainz Jr was born, his dad was driving for Subaru in the WRC. His rallying career would end 11 years later
“I wasn’t going to see my dad rallying because I was going to school and my dad never took me. Maybe we went to one rally per year. But you couldn’t fall in love with rallying, but you could fall in love with Formula 1 because it was there on TV every weekend. And when my dad was home, we would wake up and watch Formula 1 together. So at that stage, I fell in love with Formula 1.”
Sainz has occasionally driven rally cars for fun at home and participated in the powerstage of the 2018 Monte Carlo Rally as a course car driver. His belief is that rallying is an “incredible” discipline – but it hasn’t cracked how to show itself to to the world yet.
“Rallying, unfortunately, there’s still not a good TV format to watch rallying,” said Sainz, “You follow rally by going to stages or by following it live timing. But rallying hasn’t managed to sell the product well in terms of finding a TV format for it.
“I think if they manage [to do that], the sport will skyrocket because it’s such an incredible sport.”
Carlos Sainz also discussed his recent test in the Ford Raptor his father will take on next year’s Dakar Rally with on the same podcast, admitting it had left a lasting impression on him.
Asked by Block if he’d move into off-road racing after his single-seater career came to a close, Sainz replied: “Two months ago, I managed to try my dad’s Dakar rally car, the Ford. For me, it was one of the best experiences, if not the best experience of my life.”
Sainz suggested that Ford Raptor T1+ test has now put taking on the Dakar Rally on his radar for the future.
“I have rally cars at home and I’ve driven rally cars before. I’ve driven on ice, on dirt; I can get to a pretty good level straight away. But that rally car, the Dakar car, the way it absorbs bumps, rocks, corners, good balance, and the ability to push flat out on open road, like open dirt, that was…I had a lot of fun.
“That probably stayed with me, saying maybe one day I need to try Dakar. Maybe one day.”
Words:Alasdair Lindsay
Tags: Carlos Sainz, WRC
Publish Date November 21, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/10/u42X8Q9O-Sainz-3-780x520.jpeg November 21, 2025
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