Carlos Sainz spotted with former UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis

F1 star Carlos Sainz was spotted with former UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis in Barcelona. The South African shared an Instagram post on Thursday featuring Sainz, as he got behind a weighted F1 rig.

The F1 and UFC worlds collaborated on Thursday, as Dricus du Plessis shared an Instagram post with Williams F1 driver Carlos Sainz. The two athletes met in a gym in Barcelona, Spain, as Du Plessis even got behind what appeared to be a strength and conditioning training rig, resembling an F1 rig.

The 31-year-old also shared that he learned a thing or two from Sainz.

"What an incredible day learning from a legend like @carlossainz55"

Carlos Sainz also shared his reaction to meeting Du Plessis, as he left a comment under the post.

"Great to meet you! 👊"

Screen grab of Carlos Sainz' comment under du Plessis' post [Instagram/@dricusduplessis]

Dricus du Plessis first became the UFC middleweight champion in January 2024 after he bested defending champion Sean Strickland. He then defended his title by beating Israel Adesanya in August of the same year, before defeating Strickland in a rematch again in January this year.

Du Plessis lost his title after losing what was only his third ever professional bout to Khamzat Chimaev in August.

Carlos Sainz was spotted meeting him in Spain, as the F1 star was seemingly taking some time off amid the two-week gap between the recently concluded Singapore GP and the upcoming United States GP.

The 31-year-old completed a brilliant comeback drive in Singapore, as he finished 10th to score one point for Williams. He, along with his teammate Alex Albon, started from the back of the grid after they were disqualified from qualifying for a technical infringement.

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Carlos Sainz claims Williams need to "keep getting better" after mixed Singapore GP

Sainz after the Singapore Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Carlos Sainz claimed that the Williams team needs to keep improving after a mixed Singapore GP weekend. The driver also added that finishing 10th after starting 18th made for a "good day."

Speaking after the race at the Marina Bay circuit, Sainz claimed that a better result might have been on the cards in a "normal weekend."

"I think in a clean, normal weekend, P7, P8 was on the cards. We finished P10 so was not a big drama and our rivals didn't get a lot of points so we managed to salvage the weekend a bit," said Sainz, via Formula1.com. "At the same time, we need to keep getting better. Today, we executed a perfect race, I think we were the only car of the field to move forward with a midfield car, to go through 18th to 10th, when you see how little position variation there's been today I think it's definitely a good day," he added.

Sainz also claimed that apart from the team error, which got him disqualified, he himself didn't do a good job in the Saturday session. He also added that 2025 was the year for the Williams team to make mistakes and learn from them.

Edited by Hitesh Nigam