At a young age, everyone dreams of becoming a fireman or having super powers... But not these kids, their only dream was becoming a Formula 1 driver.
Daniel Ricciardo was one of the many kids who dreamt in speed. His dad, Joe Ricciardo, was a keen car collector and raced in several Australian racing series. Daniel was brought up around the race track, in a recent interview, the Australian said his earliest memory of motorsports was being held in his mums arms whilst they watched his dad race around the Barbagallo Raceway in Wanneroo, Australia. Daniel moved to Italy away from his family at the young age of 17 to take racing to a serious level. He competed in many series before eventually making it to Formula 1 with HRT, Hispania Racing Team, at Silverstone in 2011.
Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel's soon to be teammate, didn't have a racing minded family with both parents owning a shipping company. However, Nico strated karting at the young age of 10. He then went on to race in many series before eventually driving for Williams in the 2010 Formula 1 season. Nico then moved to Force India in 2011 and stayed there until the 2013 season where he moved to Sauber. Before eventually moving back to the now pink Force India, otherwise known as Racing Point, team. One year later in 2015, Nico managed to secure the 24 hour of Le Mans win! In 2017 he moved to Renault.
Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg's former teammate, started karting a lot younger at just 6 years old alongside his brother, who now competes in NASCAR. Sergio did however have a different career path in mind, football. Both Sergio and his brother, Antonio, contemplated leaving racing to play football professionally. Sergio made his F1 debut in 2011 with Sauber and continued there for a further year before signing with McLaren. A year later, Perez was confirmed to Force India where he has stayed ever since.
Esteban Ocon and his family firmly backed his racing career, his parents sold their family home to help fund Esteban's career. They lived in a caravan for a few years whilst Esteban raced in many formulas and eventually was crowned GP3 Champion. In 2016 Esteban replaced Rio Haryanto at Manor, from there he moved to Force India for the 2017 and 2018 season. Unfortunately, Esteban is out of a race seat for next season but remains close to Mercedes as a test and simulator driver. Who knows, maybe he'll be driving the Silver Arrows in 2020?
Max Verstappen raced very closely with Esteban Ocon and even came second to the Frenchman in the GP3 series. Max and his family are all very racing orientated, his mother, Sophie Kumpen, competed in karting. Whilst his father, Jos Verstappen, raced in Formula 1 for over 8 years. Max began racing aged 4 in Holland and only 14 years later did he begin his F1 career at Toro Rosso before being promoted to Red Bull Racing only a year later.
Pierre Gasly, soon to be Max's teammate, didn't come from major money. However, that didn't stop the 21 year old Frenchman from proving his talent in many racing series. Pierre managed to secure both the Eurocup Formula Renault title and the GP2 championship. However, he missed out on the Super Formula title but a mere point! Pierre made it to Formula 1 in 2017 when he took over mid season from Daniil Kvyat. He is now set to race at Red Bull Racing after just completing his first full season in F1.
Charles Leclerc is also a man moving up on the grid in 2019 from Sauber to Ferrari. Charles started racing at the early age of just 4. Although, his father was a major motorsports lover and competed in the 1990s but stopped to make way for his sons careers. Charles also had another major influence over his racing career, Jules Bianchi, who was actually Charles' godfather! Jules took it upon himself to teach Charles about karting and racing, eventually Charles won his first race just a few months later. He went on to be crowned the GP3 Champion and the Formula 2 Champion! Before being signed to Sauber in 2018. Charles has now secured one of the best seats in F1, Ferrari. Every boys dream...
Carlos Sainz began his racing career at the young age of 5 at both his own rally circuit and an indoor go karting track in Madrid. With his father, Carlos Sainz Sr, a world renowned rally champion it was obvious Carlos was going to be passionate about racing! However, at a young age of 14 Carlos had already won the Asia-Pacific KF3 title. Carlos then made his way through the ranks from Formula BMW to Formula 3 to GP3 then finally to Formula Reanault 3.5, before eventually making his F1 debut with Toro Rosso in 2015. Carlos then continued racing with Toro Rosso until midway through the 2017 season, where he moved to Renault as part of Red Bull's engine deal. Carlos has now moved to McLaren with a multi-year contract, the first of his 5 year stint in F1.
Lando Norris, soon to partner Carlos at McLaren, was born into a wealthy family in Bristol and began his racing career aged 7. However, Lando was initially interested in motorcycles but soon changed his attention to four wheels instead of two. Lando eventually went on to win MSA Formula, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, Toyota Racing Series and Formula 3. Lando has now secured his Formula 1 seat at McLaren, taking over from Stoffel Vandoorne.
Another newbie on the F1 grid will be George Russell who will be staring the classic white Williams overalls. George started racing in 2006 at the age of 8. He went on to compete in many different formulas, winning the Formula 4 championship, Formula 2 championship and GP3 championship! George joined the Mercedes junior driver programme in 2017 and managed to secure practise sessions and tyre tests with the then Force India team. George is now driving for Williams alongside Robert Kubica.
Robert Kubica is returning to the F1 grid this year, he started karting when he was just 4 years old. He began racing around plastic bottles as a hobby, but soon turned competitive. When he was 10, he won the Polish Karting Championship. He also managed to win 6 titles in the space of 3 years. In 1998, Kubica became the first foreigner to win the International Italian Junior Karting Championship. Kubica also won Formula Renault 3.5 and the World Rally Championship-2. Before eventually making it to Formula 1 in 2006 with Sauber. After a 4 year stint with Sauber, he moved to Renault for two years before enduring his huge rally crash. Robert has now finally made his F1 return and will be a prominent figure on the grid with Williams.
Kimi Raikkonen was brought up with the need-for-speed attitude, he and his older brother shared a go-kart for a few years. However, once it began getting professional, the brothers went their separate ways. Kimi continued karting whilst his brother, Rami, became Kimi's mechanic for a few years. Kimi made it to Formula 1 in 2001 and secured his one and only World Championship in 2007 with Ferrari, he continued there until 2009 where he left to compete in the World Rally championship and NASCAR. However, he returned to Formula 1 with Lotus in 2012. From there he moved to Ferrari in 2014 till 2018 where he has now moved back to his debuting team, Sauber which has just recently announced it's name change to Alfa Romeo Racing.
Sebastian Vettel began racing aged 3 and a half. He joined the Red Bull Junior programme at just 11! Five years later Sebastian raced in Formula BMW and in 2004 became the German Formula BMW Champion! He won eighteen of twenty races in the series. At 18 years old, Sebastian became a Formula One test driver for BMW Sauber. He made his F1 race debut in 2007 when he replaced an injured Robert Kubica, later that season he joined Toro Rosso. He became the youngest pole sitter and race winner with Toro Rosso in 2008, before being promoted to Red Bull from 2009. He continued there until 2014 when he moved to Ferrari after securing four world titles!
Another top team driver is Valtteri Bottas. Valtteri didn't have racing minded parents, with his father owning a small cleaning business and his mother working as an undertaker. Valtteri started karting aged 6 and entered his first major race in 2007 with Formula Renault 2.0. He then continued racing in many series before winning the GP3 Series in 2011. The following year, Valtteri was signed as a Williams Test and Reserve Driver before being signed full time in 2013. He continued with Williams until 2016 where he was chosen to replace Nico Rosberg in the 2017 season at Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton started karting aged 6. Before this, he raced a radio-controlled car in 1991, this was his first hint of racing. Lewis was heavily supported by his father, Anthony Hamilton, throughout his career start up. He took part in many racing series coming first in the Formula Renault UK series. Lewis won the GP2 Series before being signed to McLaren F1 in 2007, where he finished second in the championship. The following year, 2008, Lewis became a World Champion. In 2013, Lewis announced a shock move to Mercedes where he would eventually go on to win a further four more Titles. Becoming a five-time World Champion!
Romain Grosjean was born in Switzerland to a French mother and Swiss father, he has dual nationality and has raced under both flags. Romain has raced in many series, in 2007 Romain secured the top step of the podium for the Formula 3 Euro Series. A year later, Romain took part in the GP2 Asia Series where he finished first. That same year, he was signed as the Renault F1 Test Driver. In 2009, Romain debuted in Formula One however, he wasn't signed on for the next season and had to take a break. In 2012, Romain returned to F1 with Lotus, he stayed with the black and gold team till 2015 when he was announced as a driver for the new team, Haas F1.
Lance Stroll started karting aged 10. His father, Lawrence Stroll, has been highly influential in his racing career. Lawrence owns a racetrack, Circuit Mont-Tremblant, and therefore helped Lance get his foot in the racing door. Lance began racing in 2008 and was quickly signed to the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2010, the partnership ended only recently in 2015. Lance finished on the top step of the podium in the Toyota Racing Series whilst also being appointed as the Scuderia Ferrari Development driver. He went on to win the FIA Formula 3 European Championship before being signed as Williams F1 development driver. A year later, Lance was racing in Formula 1 full time with Williams where he secured his first podium in Baku 2017. Lance is now moving to Racing Point this season.
Daniil Kvyat has had a very checkered career in Formula 1. But before this he worked his way up the racing series. In 2013, Kvyat won the GP3 Series and also secured the role as test driver for Scuderia Toro Rosso. A year later, Kvyat was racing full time for Toro Rosso, he was then promoted to Red Bull in 2015. However, it didn't stay like this for long, at the 2016 Spanish GP Kvyat was replaced by Max Verstappen. Daniil continued the 2017 season at Toro Rosso before being swapped out and replaced by Pierre Gasly at the final few races in 2017. Daniil spent 2018 as a Ferrari Development driver and has since been signed as this seasons Toro Rosso driver.
Kevin Magnussen definitely had racing minded parents with his father being Jan Magnussen, who competed in Formula 1 for two full seasons 1997-98. Kevin was part of the McLaren Young Driver Programme but before this, he competed in the Danish Formula Ford and won. In 2013 Kevin finished on the top step of the podium for the Formula Renault 3.5 Series before signing for McLaren in 2014 and 2015. Kevin moved to Renault in 2016 and has now moved to Haas for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 season.
Antonio Giovinazzi started karting in 2006 and moved up to single seaters in 2012. In 2015, Antonio finished runner-up in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. The following year, Antonio competed in the GP2 Series and finished in second place. A year later, he was signed as the Scuderia Ferrari third driver, whilst also being the Haas test driver. That same year, 2017, Antonio took his Formula 1 debut replacing an injured Pascal Wehrlein for two races. Antonio was back as the test driver for both Ferrari and Haas in 2018, but has now been signed as a full F1 driver for Alfa Romeo Racing, alongside Kimi Raikkonen.
Alex Albon began karting in 2006 due to his father, Nigel Albon, who previously raced in the Porsche Carrera Cup and the BTCC, British Touring Caring Championship. Albon was quickly signed to the Red Bull Junior Team in 2012. In 2016, Alex competed in the GP3 Series alongside his teammate, Charles Leclerc, who finished first whilst Alex finished runner-up. In 2018, Alex was signed up to compete in Formula E with Nissan e.adams for the 2019 season. However, after Daniel Ricciardo's shock move to Renault and Pierre Gasly replacing the Australian, there was a gap left for Alex at Toro Rosso.
Although no longer a Formula One competitor Nico Rosberg, 2016 World Champion, still spends the majority of his time reporting on the F1 Grid with Sky F1. Nico started karting aged 6 and was heavily influenced by his father Keke Rosberg, who won the 1982 World Championship with Williams. Nico won the GP2 Series in 2005, that same year he was offered a place at the Imperial College London to study aeronautic engineering however, he declined. A year later, he was signed as a Williams F1 driver where he continued until 2010 when he moved to Mercedes and eventually won his one and only World Championship! After winning such an intense championship, decided at the final race in Abu Dhabi, Nico announced his retirement from the sport.
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