How to become an F1 driver: the realistic edition

Formula 1 has 22 race seats in 2026, two for each of its 11 teams, according to Goodwood's guide to the grid. If you want one of them, this is what stands in the way: a licence with strict rules, a ladder of junior series, a bill that runs into millions and odds that are hard to beat.

None of that is meant to put you off. It is here so you can plan each season with your eyes open, and so you know about the other paid careers in racing if the F1 door stays shut. Read it with whoever pays for your racing, because a lot of it is about money.

The Super Licence

Every F1 driver needs an FIA Super Licence. Wikipedia's summary of the rules and Formula 1's beginner's guide set out what a first-time driver needs.

• Age: at least 18 at the start of your first F1 event. Since mid-2024 the FIA can grant one at 17, if it chooses, to a driver it judges to have shown outstanding ability.
• Licence: an International Grade A competition licence already in your hand.
• Points: at least 40 Super Licence points over the last three seasons (or the last two plus the current one).
• Seasons: at least 80% of two full seasons done in listed single-seater championships.
• A theory test: you pass an FIA test on the sporting code and the F1 rules.

You have not needed a road driving licence since June 2024.

How Super Licence points work

You earn points for where you finish in a championship, not for single race wins. Here are the top five places in the main feeder series, from the FIA table as of March 2026.

Karting counts for very little. Winning the FIA Karting World Championship (Senior) pays 4 points, and karting is capped at 12 points, which expire after five years. A series also needs enough events and starters to pay full points. And you can score in at most two championships a year, only if the second starts after the first ends.

What 40 points looks like

Try the maths on a strong three-year run. Win an F4 title (12). Finish third in FRECA (15). Then take fifth in FIA F3 (12). That adds up to 39, one point short.

That is how the system is meant to work. A top-three finish in F2 is worth 40 points on its own. Without one, you need strong results in several series in a row.

The ladder from karts to F2

The FIA's single-seater ladder runs from Formula 4, through regional Formula 3 series, to FIA Formula 3 and then Formula 2. FRECA is the main regional series in Europe. Formula Scout's guide to modern F3 explains how the rungs fit together. Before all of that comes karting, usually from about age 8 to 14 or 15.

UK drivers often start in cars in British F4, where the minimum age is 15, or in GB4. Next comes GB3, and then a move to Europe. Our racing driver pathway guide covers those UK steps in detail.

What each step costs

Costs are hard to pin down. Teams do not publish prices, and budgets change with how much testing you do. These are the published estimates we could check, with the year each one is from.

Now add them up. Two seasons each in F4, regional and F3, then one or two in F2, and the total runs into many millions. RaceFans worked out in 2021 that reaching F1 could cost up to $7 million. A source quoted by Motor Sport magazine in April 2025 put the cost from cadet karting to F1 at around £15 million, and the magazine said that was probably on the low side.

Junior academies

Most F1 teams run a young driver programme. Formula 1 has said that the vast majority of its 2022 grid came through one. In Formula 1's feature on life in an academy, teams scout the top European karting classes, mark out promising drivers early and sign them as they move into single-seaters. Some drivers join straight from karting at 15.

An academy may pay part of your season, and sometimes the full drive. You also get simulator time, visits to the factory, training camps and coaching, plus feedback from the team and time with experienced drivers.

In return, the academy wants results. It chooses your championship and your team, and drivers who do not deliver can be dropped. For scale, Mercedes had nine drivers on its programme in 2026, racing in everything from karts up to FRECA, and two of its graduates were driving for the team in F1 that year, as GrandPrix247 reported.

You cannot apply with a CV. Academies watch international karting and the junior single-seater series, and you get noticed by winning in the series they watch.

The honest odds

Even reaching F2 is no promise. RaceFans put the drop-out rate from F2 to F1 at around 90% in 2021, and F2 is the last step of a ladder most drivers never finish.

Age matters too. The owner of Club100 told Motor Sport that drivers with genuine F1 potential have to be around seven or eight, and that ten or older is too late for that route. If you are 14 and only just starting, that is hard to read. It does not mean you cannot race for a living. It means F1 is probably not the right target, and the careers below might be.

Here is a rule worth agreeing with your family. At the end of every season, stop and ask three questions. Do the results justify the next step? Is the money for that step really there? Do you still want it? If any answer is no, think hard before moving up a category.

Pro careers outside F1

F1 is not the only place to be paid to race. The Super Licence table itself shows where the FIA rates the talent.

• IndyCar: the champion now earns 40 Super Licence points, the same as a top-three finisher in F2.
• Formula E and Super Formula: both give 30 points to the champion, the same as FIA F3.
• Endurance and GT racing: the WEC Hypercar champion gets 30 points. Series that mix pro and amateur drivers use FIA driver grades (Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze) to balance the field and set the make-up of each crew, as the FIA explains.
• Simulator and development driving: teams put juniors in simulators and use their data to develop cars, as Formula 1's academy feature describes.
• Coaching: ARDS licenses racing instructors through its member schools, with grades from D (trackside only) up to S, and a first licence fee of £249. Experienced drivers also coach privately in karting and junior cars.
• Engineering and the wider industry: UK motorsport employs about 50,000 people and turned over £16 billion in 2023, according to a Motorsport Industry Association report.

What to do this season

1. If you are karting, chase results in the classes academies watch. Only plan for international events when your national results earn it. Our guide to how much karting costs will help your family set a budget.
2. If you are 14 or 15, plan your first season in cars a full year ahead. Test with two or three teams before anyone signs.
3. At every step, track your Super Licence points against the 40-point target and the three-season window.
4. Start on funding early. Single-seater budgets are usually a mix of family money, academy support and sponsors. A sponsor deck with your results, audience and calendar is the starting point, and GridFuel builds a tailored deck for each prospect from your brand kit. If you are under 18, a parent or guardian should run that side.

To see how sponsors think at the top level, read who sponsors F1. For how it works at junior level, start with how to get racing sponsorship.