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Talent vs money

That racing talent is important to get into Formula 1, we all know. But talent alone often doesn’t get you there. What you also need: lots of money. Those pots don’t always come from sponsorships. Sometimes they just come from mom and dad. How much exactly? According to insiders, you need at least 10 million dollars to lift a young driver from karting to F1. Below you can read who fought his way up with talent and who bought a seat with daddy’s credit card.

Red Bull Racing:  

Max Verstappen: Max was fortunate to grow up in a racing family. Dad Jos drove in F1, mom Sophie was a karting champion. Rich? Mwah, not really. Jos had really raced quite a bit, but during the time he participated in the F1 circus, it was mainly the big boys like Senna and Schumacher who made tons of money. Jos had to pull out all the stops to help Max get ahead. No villas or private jets, but hard work, investments and traveling through Europe in mobile homes, from track to track.

Yuki Tsunoda: Nor did Tsunoda come into the world with a silver spoon in his mouth. His father, Nobuaki Tsunoda, worked as an auto mechanic and drove amateur races in his spare time. The family led a simple middle-class existence in Japan. Thanks to father’s connections at Honda, Yuki was allowed to enter the Honda junior program – which was later linked to Red Bull. Without that support, he probably would have stuck to a few laps of the kart track.

McLaren

Lando Norris: If anyone was born with a gold handlebar in his mouth, it’s Lando. His father, Adam Norris, made hundreds of millions with the company Pensions Direct and has been investing through his own firms in startups, e-scooters and … his son ever since. With an estimated family capital of 200 million pounds, Lando was sitting pretty. Everything from coaches to airfare was taken care of.

Oscar Piastri: Oscar also comes from a wealthy family. His father Chris co-founded HP Tuners, a successful automotive diagnostic software company. Not in the “Stroll rich” category – more on that later – but wealthy enough to invest $6 million in son’s career.

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc: Charles may be from Monaco, but no – not every Monegasque has a yacht in the harbor. His family was anything but stone-faced. Indeed, father Hervé had to discontinue his own racing career because it became too expensive. Charles’ brothers also parked their ambitions so that all resources could go to Charles. Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma – who did have money and occasionally sponsored a hotel – he kept it up until Ferrari picked him up.

Lewis Hamilton: Lewis Hamilton is known to come from a family where things were not spacious financially. His father worked multiple jobs at once and even refinanced their home just so his son could go karting. Without his exceptional talent AND the support of McLaren’s junior program, he probably would never have made it beyond the karting circuit.

Mercedes

George Russell: George comes from an entrepreneurial family. His father ran a farm machinery company, but sold it to make George’s racing career possible. Mercedes picked him up later, but without that first big gamble by dad, it may have come to nothing.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli: Antonelli is precisely a child of the paddock. His father Marco was a driver, runs Antonelli Motorsport and has an estimated fortune of about $18 million. That makes it just a little easier to rent tracks, buy karts and arrange a trainer AND motorhome.

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso: Alonso comes from a classic Spanish working-class family. His father worked as a mechanic, his mother was in a department store. No millions in the bank, no racing family, no sponsorship deals in sight. What they did have: dedication. Every penny left over went toward his karting career. Father tinkered with the kart, mother stood by the track.

Lance Stroll: Stroll drives in a very different category – and we’re not talking about his performance on the track. His father, Lawrence Stroll, is a Canadian billionaire and co-owner of the Aston Martin F1 team. Unlike drivers who have to fight their way up from humble circumstances, Lance’s career is primarily a family project. When additional financial support was needed, his father didn’t just buy him a seat in Formula One – he simply took over an entire team (Racing Point, which later became Aston Martin Racing). Now that’s an investment in talent. Although it remains to be seen whether Lance has real talent.  

Alpine

Pierre Gasly: Gasly’s father karted himself and ran a printing company. Not a fortune, but enough stability to support his son. Sponsors and the Red Bull Junior Team did the rest – a classic path for talent without extreme wealth.

Franco Colapinto: A story akin to a movie script. His family sold their home and at fourteen he left alone for Spain. There he lived above a cart factory and ate cheap rice. Thanks to donations from fans, musicians and local businesses in Argentina, he was able to keep racing.

Haas

Esteban Ocon: Ocon is the epitome of parental sacrifice. His parents sold their house and garage, lived in a caravan and followed him around Europe. Eventually Renault rescued him with a talent program.

Oliver Bearman: Then again, Oliver comes from a different nest: his father is CEO of a successful insurance firm. An expensive hobby like racing? No problem.

Williams

Alexander Albon: Albon’s father, Nigel Albon, was a British touring car and GT driver himself, but finances were limited. His Thai mother, Kankamol, came from a wealthy family, but that did not immediately translate into an unlimited racing budget. The family moved to the UK to support Albon’s karting career, but by his teens the money was in danger of running out. Red Bull eventually helped him get a seat.

Carlos Sainz: Sainz’s father, Carlos Sainz Sr. is a rally legend (two-time World Cup winner) and one of the most respected figures in motorsports. Although the family is not among the super-rich, the young Sainz had something even more valuable: a father with unlimited access to the industry.

Racing Bulls

Liam Lawson: Lawson grew up in Hastings, New Zealand, where his parents lived a modest life. When his talent became apparent, they were faced with a choice: refinance their house or sell it to pay for his karting. They chose the former, at the risk of losing everything. His breakthrough came not through the traditional European karting circuit, but through the New Zealand Formula Ford championship, where he was noticed by Rodin Motorsport. Later, Red Bull included him in their junior program.

Isack Hadjar: Hadjar’s father was not a millionaire, but he was an experienced kart mechanic. Yet even his path to the top was not a foregone conclusion. Only when Red Bull picked him up in 2021 did he get the financial backing to break through.

Kick Sauber / Audi

Nico Hülkenberg: Hülkenberg’s parents ran a transport company in Emmerich, Germany. Not millions, but enough to get him started in karting. His big break came through the German junior formula circuit and the support of Willi Weber (the same manager who mentored Michael Schumacher).

Gabriel Bortoleto: Bortoleto’s parents have a background in the telecom industry, but his real advantage was that his family ran its own racing team in Brazil. Still, he too had to perform: his move to Europe only became possible thanks to the Renault Sport Academy program.

So: do you need rich parents?

Let’s face it: it helps tremendously. In Formula One, without millions, you just don’t get very far. For a kid without a rich family, it takes either a talent program or the business genius of a father who goes all out.

There are exceptions like Hamilton, Ocon or Tsunoda who reached the top thanks to rock-solid effort and support from manufacturers or fans. But most young drivers simply have a financial safety net. Sometimes that is a fortune of hundreds of millions (Norris, Stroll), sometimes “just” a well-run company or racing team from dad (Antonelli, Bearman, Piastri). A father with connections (Verstappen, Bortoleto, Sainz) also comes in handy.

In short: you can achieve Formula One without rich parents. But then you either have to be exceptionally talented or have people around you who literally sacrifice everything.  

Rewrite: Formula 1 calendar 2026: these are all 24 races!

Formula 1 calendar 2026: these are all 24 races!