Verstappen, first to 500+ points in a season, pays the highest-ever FIA Super License fee.
Max Verstappen on the podium (via Sky Sports F1)
Max Verstappen has had the most dominant season in Formula One history, breaking countless records in his ninth season in F1. The Dutchman won the Championship in spectacular fashion, scoring a record 575 points in 2023, with nineteen wins to the Champion’s name.
The FIA Super License upped its requirements for the fee to drive in the pinnacle of motorsport in 2024. The Super License fee is a mandatory expense for all drivers to drive for the following year. The Fee is determined by a base price with an additional fee added, multiplied by the points scored by the driver in the season.
The fee for the 2024 season has been set at €10,400 (£9,017 GBP at current exchange rates) plus €2,100 (£1,820 GBP) per point scored. Max Verstappen has set the record for the most expensive FIA Super License of all time, at the amount of a whopping 1.2 million euros.
Meanwhile, the Dutchman will not have any issue paying the amount, with his hefty salary being the highest in the F1 grid ahead of 7x Champion Lewis Hamilton. While Verstappen has the most expensive license, Logan Sargeant has the cheapest at only €12,500.
Five records Max Verstappen failed to achieve in 2023
Max Verstappen has broken nearly every record he possibly could in the 2023 Formula One championship. Yet, the Dutchman failed to use his RB19 to claim five major records which still stand unbroken after Verstappen’s undefeated dominance in 2023.
Max Verstappen (via IMAGO)
Michael Schumacher in 2002 finished on the podium in every single race of the season, where he won his fifth World Championship, and his third for Ferrari. Verstappen missed out on the record after his fifth-place finish in Singapore.
Sebastian Vettel currently holds the record for most pole positions in a season, claiming fifteen in his dominant 2011 championship. Max Verstappen qualified first in 2023 only 11 times, failing to match the 4x Red Bull World Champion.
Ayrton Senna still holds an unmatched record: eight consecutive pole positions in the 1989 F1 season. In 2023, Verstappen fell short with only five consecutive poles. Kimi Raikkonen shares another record with Michael Schumacher for the most fastest laps in a season.
Schumacher set the bar with 10 in 2004, and Raikkonen matched it twice in 2005 and 2008. Verstappen got close in 2023 with nine. However, Verstappen’s 15 consecutive top-three finishes in 2023 couldn’t surpass Schumacher’s incredible streak between 2001 and 2002, where he achieved it.