What is a “Paid seat”?

Top-end F1F1 is the pinnacle of open wheel,  single seater car racing and arguably the highest level of any motorsport globally.... There's more... teams have access to the best of everything, including proven drivers, who often come at a hefty cost. 

Teams at the other end of the fieldThe field is a reference to the full grid of cars, from pole to the backmarkers. Consider it in the... There's more... need to manage their budgets to extract the best from the team over a season and one option is to have a driverOK, so we all know what the driver is, right. I've always liked the description that F1 drivers are like... There's more... pay for the opportunity to drive the car as opposed to being paid. 

Paid drivers are common in the feeder seriesFeeder Series is a website dedicated to the dozens of open-wheel racing series' developing emerging talent.  They have one simple... There's more..., F3Formula 3 was formed in 2019 as a development category for young drivers in pursuit of an F1 seat. Held... There's more... and F2A second-tier single-seater, open wheeler series run by the FIA as a feeder category to assist developing drivers gain experience... There's more..., but not completely seen in F1. Some may argue that a paid driver has not necessarily earnt his seat, but these drivers need to have a super license that has a list of requirements including a minimum pointsFormula 1 runs two competitions over the course of the season, the Constructor's title and the Driver's title. Points are... There's more... haul from feeder categories over a set period.

A number of very successful drivers started on the F1 gridThe grid is a reference to the starting order of the race is typically determined by qualifying, however, with the... There's more... as paid drivers, none less so than Michael Schumacker who, in 1991, was funded into a seat with Jordan for the Belgian GP. The fee was $150,000.00 for a one-race deal. 

It could be said that Lance StrollLance Stroll (No 18) is a Canadian-born F1 driver contracted to Aston Martin in 2022. Check out our driver profile... There's more... is the ultimate example with his seat at Aston MartinAston Martin's Grand Prix history can be traced back to 1922 at the French Grand Prix. From its debut, via... There's more... where his dad owns the team…