How F1 Drivers Actually Earn Their License To Race

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You don't conscionable hop into a Formula 1 car because you group a accelerated thigh astatine your section karting circuit aliases person a billionaire backing your garage. Becoming a Formula 1 driver intends earning nan eventual credential successful motorsport bureaucracy –– nan Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile Super Licence. The FIA hasn't been celebrated for its sanctions connected things for illustration swearing, but it's superior astir licensing rules. The Super License is simply a highly structured, occasionally arguable strategy designed to support F1 seats reserved for legit talent. 

To get started, you person to beryllium astatine slightest 18 years old, clasp an International Grade A title licence, and walk a mentation trial based connected F1's sporting code, which mightiness beryllium nan driest book you'll ever read. Even earlier that, drivers must complete astatine slightest 80% of 2 afloat seasons successful inferior single-seater categories sanctioned by nan FIA. Racing successful F3, F2, Super Formula, aliases IndyCar, among others, a driver finishes races to gain Super Licence points. The catch? You request to slope astatine slightest 40 points complete a rolling three-year period.

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The FIA awards Super Licence points based connected wherever you decorativeness successful a gradual database racing series. Nailed nan F2 championship? That's 40 points correct there, capable for a Super Licence. Won IndyCar? You're golden. Top spot successful Formula E? That's 30 points. But spot 3rd successful a smaller series, for illustration nan Japanese Super GT500 aliases Euroformula Open, and you mightiness only gain 12 aliases 10 points, truthful you whitethorn request to grind done a fewer seasons to adhd it each up.

The strategy is designed to guarantee that drivers are some accelerated and knowledgeable earlier hitting nan grid. Bonus points exist, too. For drivers who tally 100 kilometers (62 miles) successful an F1 Free Practice session, debar punishment points, aliases triumph prestigious one-offs for illustration nan Macau GP, nan FIA awards points bonuses.

We tin proceed to dream that nan V10s return to F1, but successful nan meanwhile, if an aged F1 driver (cue cheers for Fernando Alonso, who says he's not done yet), wants backmost successful aft much than 3 years away, they can't conscionable particulate disconnected their helmet and show up. The FIA has to judge that they've still sewage nan chops successful single-seaters, and nan squad backing them has to beryllium that nan driver has precocious logged astatine slightest 300 kilometers (186 miles) astatine due title gait successful a current-spec car complete a maximum of 2 days and wrong nan past 180 days.

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Just erstwhile you deliberation it's each mathematics and meritocracy, nan FIA likes to sprinkle successful immoderate enigma spice. While nan 40-point norm is nan golden standard, location are workarounds. Drivers tin boost their Super Licence points by keeping it cleanable each season, winning nan FIA Formula Regional World Cup, aliases logging trouble-free Friday believe laps during F1 weekends; up to 10 prize points full if they tick each nan correct boxes.

Then location are nan exceptions for prodigies. Remember erstwhile Max Verstappen debuted astatine 17? That loophole has been technically closed, but moreover now, nether typical dispensation, drivers for illustration Andrea Kimi Antonelli tin get nan motion astatine 17 if nan FIA sees capable maturity and acquisition to make an exception, and if nan stars align. The logic is fuzzy, but if you're freakishly talented and backed by a apical team, nan doorway mightiness unfastened early.

Getting an F1 Super Licence is besides astir nan cash. Drivers reportedly ammunition retired a level $12,800 fee, positive $1,280 for each constituent they people successful nan championship. Oh, and it's not a one-and-done deal. The licence needs renewing each year, and newbies get a 12-month probation play wherever nan FIA tin yank it distant if they don't support things clean. A rookie without a afloat Super License can, however, participate successful a title pinch a flashing greenish ray alternatively of the accustomed flashing red astatine nan backmost of their car.

Ultimately, nan Super Licence isn't astir keeping slowpokes retired of nan paddock. It's astir managing risks, maintaining standards, and making judge that erstwhile 20 cars dive into Turn 1 astatine nan Monaco Grand Prix, each driver belongs there, making their measurement to Turn 2, and not turning nan grid into an costly heap of c fiber.