F1 drivers occupy a tenuous, prestigious position, holding one of only 22 of the most coveted seats in motorsport. Many of them descend from important figures in F1 history and strive to carry on the legacy that those people once began. Carlos Sainz Jr is the son of two-time world champion rally driver Carlos Sainz Sr, four-time world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) is the son of former Dutch rally and F1 driver Jos Verstappen, and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) is well-known for driving for the team owned by his billionaire father Lawrence Stroll.
Not many drivers manage to break into the sport without at least a whisper of association to a big F1 figure. Scuderia Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton is the most well-known character currently in F1 — with seven world championships under his belt, his success has seemed almost effortless. His journey was definitely not without struggle, though, especially before making it to F1. Growing up in a working-class family, his father worked multiple jobs to set his son up for success, dishing out cash at every step of the ladder to F1 – karting, F3, and GP2. Other drivers – including Esteban Ocon, Liam Lawson, and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso – also came from working-class backgrounds. They are but few and far between in the paddock, which begs the question: what are the chances of a driver making it to F1 if they don’t have a rich relative or former racer to fund them?
Quantitatively speaking, sources from PlanetF1 have estimated that by the time a driver reaches F1, they have easily spent over £5 million paying for their junior career, a sum the average person just doesn’t possess. Hence, the relationship between F1 and money is not just a close bond — in reality, the former could never exist without the latter. The sport itself revolves around engineering a car that represents the height of technology, which will inherently cost a pretty penny. Skill and natural talent dictate only a fraction of whether a driver makes it – the rest is largely already decided from the moment they’re born. It is understandable how so few people make it — exclusivity is simply embedded within the root of the sport.