The Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) is a trade union for Formula One drivers. Founded in 1961 and refounded in 1994, it has organised several drivers' strikes and boycotts over the years, primarily in response to unsafe circuits on the F1 calendar and other driver safety issues. It represents the international cast of F1 drivers but is based in Monaco. Its current chairman is a former driver Alexander Wurz.

The GPDA was founded in May 1961 and, following an election by members, its inaugural Chairman was Stirling Moss. After Moss retired from the sport in 1963, Jo Bonnier succeeded him.

The organisation's initial aim was to obtain representation on the Commission Sportive Internationale (CSI) of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) to advocate for improved safety standards and provisions for both drivers and spectators. The GPDA organised driver boycotts of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (1969) and the Nürburgring (1970, post-1976).

The organisation fractured during the FISA–FOCA war, during which drivers in teams aligned with FISA (mostly auto manufacturer teams like Ferrari) clashed with drivers in FOCA teams (mostly private racing teams like Lotus, McLaren, or Williams). GPDA chairman Jody Scheckter, a Ferrari driver, used his GPDA role to take FISA's side in the conflict, arguing that ground effect cars (pioneered by the FOCA teams) were unsafe for drivers. In response, several drivers for FOCA teams, including Williams' Alan Jones and Brabham's Nelson Piquet, resigned from the GPDA, and Lotus' Mario Andretti publicly suggested that FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre was no longer fit for the job.

In addition, the GPDA organised a successful drivers' strike at the 1982 South African Grand Prix after FISA proposed new regulations that gave them wider grounds to strip drivers of their FIA Super Licenses, although in that case, FOCA agreed with FISA's position. The drivers defeated the regulations but were fined and sanctioned by the FIA. Following the strike, a number of drivers met to disband the GPDA and replace it with the Professional Racing Drivers Association (PRDA), which theoretically extended to all professional drivers. The PRDA never matched the prominence or effectiveness of the original GPDA, and was said to have "faded away."

Ahead of the 1994 season, the FIA banned electronic driver aids such as active suspension and traction control. The speed of the change (the FIA was so eager to implement the ban that it initially suggested imposing the ban in the middle of the 1993 season) was criticised by several drivers, who believed that it would lead to unsafe design flaws in the 1994 cars. Williams' Ayrton Senna publicly complained that the 1994 cars were less safe and predicted "lots of accidents," and McLaren's Martin Brundle claimed that because of the rushed nature of the changes, the drivers had "less control of the car" than in years past.

Ahead of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, Senna proposed reorganising the GPDA to give the drivers a unified voice in support of safety reforms. However, Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were both killed by on-track accidents during that race weekend.

Before the following race, the 1994 Monaco Grand Prix, Niki Lauda, Christian Fittipaldi, Michael Schumacher, and Gerhard Berger re-established the GPDA, with assistance from Martin Brundle. In its early days, the GPDA was opposed by FIA president Max Mosley, who claimed that non-drivers were interfering with the organisation.