What must I do to become a professional F1 racer?

That's question 1.


Question 2 is how much money does the average F1 racer earn? By average I mean, the ones that don't come in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place?|||Racing is not about money dude... atleast not for 'Racing Drivers!'





Very Few racing drivers, who presently would be in F1... would have money on the Top of their 'priority' list!





Racing is all about passion... money is highly 'irrelevant' ...especially in F1..





Top-Teams like Ferrari and McLaren , never gave money an 'Sh!t' .. they have spent it like water!





The reason is..they have this 'passion' to win!





Winning and performing comes first then the money!!





In today's date... any driver in GP2..which is considered 'Best Feeder series ' for F1 ... will race for any F1 team ...even if they dont pay him an $/ rather an 'cent'...





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Hardly any Racing driver(today).. is racing for Money... no doubt they know once they get into F1 and do good they will earn like anything...





But winning races and/or putting up an good show , must be the top-priority of an racing driver!.. (rather anyone i would say..leave alone racing drivers ).|||1 - how to become a professional F1 driver





The basic route is simple, first you need to be born with great natural talent into a wealthy family, and ideally one that has a history in motorsports. Then start karting at an early age, somewhere around 6-8 years old. After lots of success there, use the family contacts to raise lots of money to mount an initial "amatuer" campaign when you are about 14 years old, and do lots and lots of winning that season. Then immediately move up next year to a higher level, using existing money and new sponsorship your previous success generated. Repeat this one or two more times so that by the time you are 17 you are racing at the highest levels and are already a known to F1 teams and managers. From there, it's as simple as doing well at the test days you are invited to and then just wait for the offer!





That's the easiest way. There are some other variations that have worked for many, but the basic ideas are the same. Some have managed to start later and go from karting to gt or sports racers before moving back to open wheel cars... so stay at lower levels for budget reasons longer... etc. In the end though, you need to be able to finance lots of racing, and you need to be very successful. If you do that, then there is a small (very small) chance to move on to one of those very few F1 race seats.





2 - How much does a driver make? Podium and/or points finishes may earn extra money for driver depending on his contract with the team. If you are a top driver being paid a premium (Alonso, Hamilton, or Schumacher when he was active), then the team is expecting you to win. Winning would be considered what you are being paid for in the first place and there is likely no bonus (though there may be one for a championship). For those drivers though, there are still bonuses with personal sponors and winning always opens more doors for other money making opportunities. In this lofty company you could expect to earn $10-20 million or more a year in base salary, and as much or more in other deals due to the fame success brings.





The other end of the spectrum are drivers that are paying for their ride. They may make a small amount of money for the occassional point they score, but mostly they require another source of income or are able to make a small amount from personal sponsorship money that is left over after paying for their seat. Most drivers in F1 fall between these two extremes.|||Start out in karting when you're under 8 years old. If you are good enough at that, you will eventually progress through the ranks of some of the lesser feeder series. Most drivers will have to race and prove themselves in GP2 before getting signed up for an F1 team. It isn't easy and of course, only a tiny percentage of those who started out in karting will make it to the top.





The average pay for an F1 driver is somewhere around 拢5million. At the top, you've got the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso on 拢20-拢30 mil, and nearer the bottom you've got drivers like Adrien Sutil on nearer to 拢500k.|||The best thing you can do to become an F1 driver is to start kart racing when you are 5 years old.





It also helps to come from a very rich family, so your father can become a team sponsor (this works best for one of the backmarkers).|||u must be able to drive a car...