Lando Norris Hit With a Hefty £1M Championship Tax After Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Win

Winning a Formula 1 World Championship has its perks: the glory, the trophy, the endless champagne showers. For Lando Norris, it also comes with a bill that could make even a millionaire’s eyes water.

Fresh off his maiden title victory, Norris is staring down a nearly £1 million invoice from the FIA just for the privilege of racing next season. Welcome to the bizarre world of F1’s super license, where success is literally taxed.

It’s a harsh, almost comical reality of the sport. The more points a driver scores, the more they have to fork over to get their mandatory super license for the following year. It’s like getting a massive bonus at work, only to have your boss immediately ask for a huge chunk of it back to pay for your desk chair.

So, how did we get to this eye-watering figure for Norris? Let’s break down the FIA’s “success tax.”

1. How is Lando Norris’s Super License Fee Calculated?

Every driver on the grid has to pay for a super license. Think of it as the ultimate driver’s license, without which you can’t even get in the car. The fee has two parts. First, there’s a flat base rate, which for the 2026 season sits at a not-so-insignificant £10,342 (€11,842). That’s just the entry fee. Here’s where it gets spicy. On top of that, the FIA tacks on a fee for every single point a driver scored in the previous season. For 2026, that’s a cool £2,089 (€2,392) per point. When you’ve had a season like Norris, who racked up an impressive 423 points en route to his first championship, the numbers get astronomical pretty quickly. A little bit of quick math reveals Norris’s total bill comes to a staggering £893,989. All this for a laminated card that says he’s allowed to drive really, really fast. It’s easily the biggest fee of his career, but one he’ll probably pay with a grin, considering it’s the cost of unseating Max Verstappen and bringing a championship back to McLaren for the first time since 2008.

2. How Does Norris’s Fee Compare to His Rivals?

Funnily enough, while Norris won the war, his closest rivals are also feeling the financial sting. Max Verstappen, who narrowly missed out on his fifth consecutive title, will have to pay a fee of £889,811 for his 421 points. It’s a small consolation, perhaps, that his bill is marginally cheaper than the new champion’s. Norris’s McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, also had a stellar season, finishing third in the standings. His reward? A super license fee of £866,195. That’s a massive jump of about £300,000 from the previous year, highlighting just how much of a breakout season the young Australian had. Ironically, Norris can thank Verstappen for his bill not being even higher. In 2023, Verstappen’s utter dominance saw him accumulate a record 575 points, leading to a super license fee of over £1 million for the 2024 season. The tighter championship battle this year saved everyone a bit of cash, though “a bit” is doing some heavy lifting here.

3. Who Actually Pays This Ridiculous Fee?

So, do the drivers get a bill in the mail and have to write a personal check to the FIA? Technically, yes. The super license is the driver’s responsibility. However, in reality, it often becomes a bargaining chip in contract negotiations. When asked about his record-breaking fee in 2023, Verstappen casually mentioned, “The team pays that, fortunately.” It’s widely understood that top-tier teams like Red Bull and McLaren foot the bill for their star drivers. It’s a small price to pay to keep a championship-caliber driver happy. But for rookies or drivers further down the grid, the story can be different. They are often expected to cover the cost themselves, adding another financial hurdle to an already incredibly expensive sport. Verstappen has been openly critical of the system, calling the fees “absurd” and pointing out that no other sport punishes its top performers in such a direct financial way. With tensions already simmering between the drivers and the FIA on various issues, this “success tax” could easily become another major point of contention. As the F1 calendar expands and more points are on offer, this problem isn’t going away. For now, Lando Norris can celebrate his championship, but he might want to check if Zak Brown is picking up the tab.

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