Formula 1 drivers are among the most skilled on the planet having been behind the wheels at karting level from an early age.
All 20 F1 racers on the grid own an FIA Super License, but not all of them even enjoy putting pedal to the metal on the open road.
McLaren superstar Lando Norris boasts a £1.7million supercar collection but admitted he’s not a fan of driving off-track.
His British rival Lewis Hamilton has one of the most enviable lineups of motors, which contains a reported value of around $16.5m.
However, the seven-time world champion also confessed he doesn’t enjoy racing non-F1 cars either…
Do F1 drivers have a driving license?
Under FIA regulations introduced in 2016, every Formula 1 driver is legally required to hold a valid driving license to race.
However, in the years prior, that wasn’t a requirement.
It was only changed following Toro Rosso’s controversial signing of then-17-year-old Max Verstappen in 2015.
The Dutchman became the youngest-ever F1 driver during the 2015 Australia Grand Prix at 17 years and 166 days old.
Verstappen couldn’t legally drive a road car alone in Belgium, the country of his birth, when he did 32 laps around the Albert Park circuit.
Although the reigning world champion went on to prove his worth, he was prone to crashes in his early years which included a high-speed collision with Romain Grosjean at Monaco in his rookie season.
The FIA moved quickly to add new rules to prevent teams from signing inexperienced and potentially unsafe drivers from joining the grid, and thus, Verstappen’s record will likely never be broken.
13 of Hamilton’s best road cars
The Pagani heads an incredible list
2013 Pagani Zonda 760LH – £7.9m
2017 Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta – £5.1m
2015 Ferrari LaFerrari – £2.7m
2022 Mercedes-AMG One – £2.25m
1966 Shelby Cobra 427 – £1.75m
2014 McLaren P1 – £1.25m
2012 Ferrari 599 SA Aperta – £1m
1967 Shelby Cobra 427 – £960k
2015 Mercedes-AMG G63 6X6 – £713k
1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 – £624k
2014 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Coupe Black Series – £419k
1967 Mercedes Benz Maybach X3 – £109k
1965 Mini Cooper S – £1k
What is an FIA Super License?
A Super License is the highest type of license available, awarded by F1’s governing body, the FIA, for any driver hoping to race on the grid.
The Super License also requires a financial fee, but the main requirements are as follows:
- Be at least 18 years old before their first F1 race
- Hold an International Grade A competition licence
- Hold a valid driving licence for the country listed as the driver’s nationality
- Pass an FIA theory test on F1 sporting codes and regulations
- Have completed at least 80 per cent of two full seasons in a single-seater championship
- Gained at least 40 points over three years in any of the motor-racing series listed in Supplement 1 of FIA regulations
- Complete 300km in a representative F1 car over no more than two days, either as part of an official F1 session (usually a first practice session) or in a test-certified national racing authority
