Carlos Sainz spends most of his life with his head sealed inside a fireproof helmet, zipping around international racetracks at 200 miles per hour. And yet, he’s just landed a beauty campaign with L’Oréal Paris, a brand long associated with effortless glamour and everyday luxury. On paper, the Spanish driver flaunting his follicles for a scalp serum ad might seem like a mismatch. But online? “It makes perfect sense,” Sainz tells Coveteur, when asked how he ended up as the brand’s latest ambassador. “I think even L’Oréal was surprised with how much F1 fans were invested in my hair.”
Getty/Clive Rose
If you’ve ever fallen down the rabbit hole of Formula 1 TikTok, you’ll understand the obsession. There are entire fan edits devoted to Sainz’s thick, brunette mane, slow-motion compilations of him removing his helmet to reveal a halo of perfect layers. In fact, this whole thing started because of that—the fans. “If there wouldn’t have been anyone telling me I have good hair, I wouldn’t have realized it,” he says. “I’ve had the same hairstyle since I was a kid. Always pretty long, always pushing it back with my hand. Then I started seeing all these videos online—people talking about my hair—and I was like, huh.”
Sainz took the idea to his management team. “I said, it would be great if we could get a partnership with a brand like L’Oréal Paris," he says. "The moment we started talking, everything happened super quickly. They saw all the content online and said, okay—this is real."
The campaign, which features Sainz giving movie-star level swagger to the camera while casually tossing around the iconic phrase, “We’re worth it,” made a splash. But no one was more surprised than his friends and family. “They knew I was doing something with L’Oréal, but they didn’t know the scale of it,” he says. “Suddenly, I’m at home in Madrid and people are sending me pictures—billboards all over the city with my face. They were honestly very excited. It was a fun reaction.”
The timing of Sainz’s beauty turn coincides with a broader cultural shift in Formula 1. Thanks to the Netflix docuseries, Drive to Survive, the sport has exploded in popularity, especially in places like the U.S., where it was once a niche curiosity. That means that drivers like Sainz aren’t just elite athletes anymore—they’re full-blown celebrities.
“Nowadays, Formula 1 is developing a lot more toward off-track stuff. There are red carpets, film festivals, premieres,” Sainz says. In fact, our interview happened the same day Sainz made his debut at Cannes, trading his logo-emblazoned racing suit for a tux.
Instagram/@carlossainz55
It’s a shift Sainz is navigating with some self-awareness. “It’s a good thing for the sport, it’s good for the teams," he says. "But you also need to make sure your schedule isn’t so busy that you can’t focus on what matters in the end—which is to win the race.”
Still, he’s enjoying the moment. “I’m just riding the wave the best I can,” he says, flashing a smile that’s no doubt made a few casting agents take notice. This new life as a hunky male model includes, yes, an actual hair routine—though he won’t give away all his secrets. And no, he hasn’t tried to convert his Williams Racing teammate Alex Albon to the ways of the leave-in conditioner. Yet.
For all the glitz, the billboards, and the viral appreciation posts, Sainz remains very much grounded in the world that got him here: motorsport. A veteran of the grid since 2015, he’s driven for Toro Rosso, Renault, McLaren, and most recently, Ferrari. His next big accomplishment could manifest as the newly minted driver for Williams Racing—a historic team looking to climb back to the top.
“My biggest challenge yet, I think, is still to come,” he says. “Which is to be an F1 world champion—and if possible, to do it with Williams.”
Until then, he’ll keep doing what he does best: driving fast, looking good, and somehow making helmet hair aspirational.
