Karting chaos, cycling tours and chess – Inside Carlos Sainz's F1 training camp

Ahead of this weekend’s 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, several members of the Formula 1 grid headed on a ‘boys’ holiday training camp’ to Langkawi, spending their time playing chess, karting, training and heading out on boats. Here’s everything we know about their fun few days away.

The Williams pairing of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz were the first to let slip about the trip while speaking on the Fan Stage at the recent Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Albon initially hinted that several drivers would be taking a few days off together, although he originally suggested it would be between the races in Malaysia and Singapore.

“We’re going to go on like a boys’ trip, I guess,” Albon said on the Fan Stage. “I think there are a few drivers where we’re going to hang out.”

“It’s going to be [a boys’ trip],” team mate Sainz then added. “We just realised no one’s bringing their girlfriend. But it’s not like we’re going to do anything exciting. We’re going to be in a resort in the middle of nowhere.”

Who attended the F1 boys’ trip?

The first glimpses of the drivers’ post-Baku getaway soon started appearing online, with locals sharing videos of them taking over a nearby karting track.

Joining Sainz and Albon were George Russell, Ollie Bearman, Oscar Piastri, Gabriel Bortoleto, and former F1 driver Roberto Merhi.

Sainz has since revealed that the trip came together almost spontaneously as several drivers tried to work out their travel plans from Azerbaijan to Malaysia.

“It was a combination,” he explained in Thursday’s print media session in Sepang, ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. “I think I saw that there were drivers trying to get on a flight to Malaysia from Baku on Saturday night, and rather than flying straight to Kuala Lumpur, I offered, ‘Why don’t we go somewhere else?’

“I found a hotel on an island to spend four or five days that looked really nice, with good cycling and a good gym. I said, ‘Why don’t we, instead of all flying to Kuala Lumpur for four days, which is more of a city and has less planned for us at least, fly to this nice resort?’

“We all jumped on that plane on Saturday night and flew straight from Baku to Langkawi. No one has probably ever flown from Baku to Langkawi. It’s the most random flight ever.”

Based in Langkawi, an archipelago off Malaysia’s northwest coast, the drivers made the most of their surroundings, heading out to see the sights while also using the opportunity to train ahead of the championship’s return to the Sepang International Circuit.

For Sainz, it also offered something that is surprisingly difficult to find during a Formula 1 season – proper time with the people he races against every weekend.

“Normally on race weekends, we never see each other,” he explained. “I never see all the guys that I got to spend time with because we all have our own commitments, so very rarely do you actually get to spend some proper time with them.

“The island we went to was quite fun because it was a small island and you put seven drivers on an island and see what they end up doing. It was a bit of a social experiment, for sure. Those four days, I would say, were interesting.

“I personally got to meet a lot more characters and some drivers that I didn’t know. I got to see their story, where they came from, how they ended up being the way they are, and why, and got to bond with them and understand them a bit better.

“For me, it was a very cool experience. I think we all left there quite happy with how it went.”

They also met up with reigning World Champion Lando Norris, who skipped the karting but was spotted unwinding with a game of chess on the beachfront. Is chess becoming the new padel?

Norris was quite happy to sit that particular activity out. “Everyone else went karting, but I did a bit of training and stayed in,” he said in Thursday’s print media session. “From what I heard, I certainly don’t think it made anyone treat each other any nicer. I think it made it even worse. From what I heard, everyone put each other in a wall at some point.”

Chaos at karting

That assessment might have been fair.

At the karting track, the drivers had to pick their own names and take photos for their profiles, which Russell later shared on social media.

The Mercedes driver raced under the pseudonym ‘G Dawg’, Albon opted for ‘Albino’, Sainz used his F1 race number ‘55’, while Piastri kept things simple with ‘OP’.

Speaking in Sepang, Russell explained exactly what unfolded once the F1 drivers were let loose on the circuit.

“It was wild,” the most recent F1 race winner stated. “Firstly I got helped out by the Malaysians... I went over to one of the guys like, ‘What is the best kart?’ and he put new tyres on, so I had this kart that was like 1.5 seconds quicker than everyone else and they were kicking off!

“It was carnage, but I thought it would be. Bortoleto ended up with bruises on his back, Piastri almost broke a rib, it was like a banger race! I actually pitted before the end because I was like, ‘I am going to break something here’, so I actually don’t know who won.

“Bearman put Merhi through a wall on the first lap of the race and then it was like, ‘Who else could hit someone else off the hardest?’”

Holiday or training camp?

While there was plenty of downtime, there was also some serious preparation going on ahead of two physically demanding races in Malaysia and Singapore.

“It was a good training camp, to be honest, and I’m working hard to prepare for this race,” Bearman said when asked about the trip during the pre-race press conference.

“You know, it’s a very unique climate that we have here and of course next week in Singapore as well.

“It was very fun to spend a bit of time with some of the guys outside of the circuit, and that’s also quite rare to be able to do that, and unlock a kind of a new side of all of the people that I was spending time with.

“I very much enjoyed myself, and it’s also nice to have a bit of a reset. A few days off, in a way, but also I’ve been training quite hard.”

Piastri echoed that sentiment, describing the trip as a rare opportunity for the drivers to switch off together away from the pressures of a race weekend.

“It was pretty last minute, but it was good fun being able to switch off from racing a bit,” he said. “It’s very rare that you get so many drivers actually spending time together away from a racetrack.

“At the end of the day, we’re 22 guys that love racing. Obviously, it’s a bit tricky to talk about certain things because we are racing each other, but we’ve got a lot in common that we just never really get to talk about. So it was quite nice.

“We all did our own separate things at points. It wasn’t like we were glued to each other the whole time. Maybe on the go-kart track we were! It was good fun, honestly.”

Can you still race your friends?

Spending several days on an island together might bring the drivers closer away from the circuit, but Norris does not believe that necessarily makes life any friendlier once the helmets go on.

“I think people are able to separate personal life and personal time from when you’re putting a helmet on,” he explained. “I think you become two different people. You are two different versions of yourself.

“So it’s nice that you get to spend a little bit of time with them outside of racing. I knew all of these guys pretty well already, but at the same time, they all went karting and I thought, ‘This is a bit of time when I don’t have to spend time with them.’ It’s nice to have a bit of time to myself and do my own thing. That’s what I enjoy a lot in my life.

“I don’t agree with that kind of statement that racing is more friendly. I think at times it’s the opposite of that. But it’s nice that we get to just be normal people away from the track, have a bit of downtime and get to see maybe a different side of people. That’s a good thing as well.”

Will we see more on Netflix’s Drive to Survive?

And there could also be considerably more footage from the trip still to come.

In one of the snaps shared in Russell’s Instagram photo dump, Norris could be seen with a camcorder for his recently announced Amazon Prime documentary.

However, just behind him stood several camera and boom-mic operators, reminiscent of the crews often seen filming Netflix’s Drive to Survive, as production continues on Season 9 of the popular show. Fingers crossed!