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General F1 Discussion / Re: Ted Toleman founder of F1 team has died at the age of 86.
« Last post by John S on April 12, 2024, 10:37:35 PM »
I wonder who the last F1 friver was that came from a family without money. I'd say Lewis and Fisichella is all I can remember
Surprisingly perhaps there are at least three other real non silver spoon drivers currently in F1:- Alonso, Bottas & Ocon. All of these came from families of very modest or working class means.
Piastri had a similar start to Hamilton with his father taking mechanic duties in his early Karting career, although there was enough money for Oscar to be privately educated.
Similarly Russell had parents of somewhat limited means, certainly not Stroll, Latifi or Norris deep pockets, his siblings were also involved in motor racing.
Perez family too were of modest means and his big backer, Hamilton McLaren/Mercedes style, was from Carlos Slim's Telmex racing team.
Tsunoda owes his single seater car career to Honda's Formula Dream project, it obviously required a good karting record. One presumes the family funded his Karting, at first at least.
Think even more surprisingly Max can be considered somewhat similar to Lewis, Sure his father was in F1 but it seems Jos' constant tutoring, connections and Max's blinding talent got him into karts & cars without big bucks needed. Jos probably spent most of any F1 wages he earned on partying rather than family development.
