This week the Federation Internationale de l’Vehicle (FIA), the world’s motorsport governing physique, printed an replace to the Worldwide Sporting Code. The replace to Appendix L entails worldwide drivers’ licenses in addition to Tremendous Licenses.
And the up to date regulation may simply open the door to a younger driver seeing the Formulation 1 grid earlier than his 18th birthday.
Ever since Lewis Hamilton introduced his surprising transfer to Ferrari, to be executed on the finish of the 2024 season, Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s identify has been linked with a seat on the F1 grid, even perhaps to switch Hamilton at Mercedes. Antonelli, who’s a member of the Mercedes driver program, is in his first F2 season, having skipped F3 altogether.
He’s additionally simply 17 years previous.
Forward of the Miami Grand Prix studies surfaced {that a} group requested a dispensation for a driver to obtain a Tremendous License — required earlier than taking part in F1 — for a driver who had not reached the age of 18. Present F1 laws require a driver to be 18 years previous to obtain the requisite Tremendous License. This was put into place after Max Verstappen made his F1 debut simply days after his seventeenth birthday.
Nevertheless, the FIA’s up to date Worldwide Sporting Code now comprises Article 13.1.32, which reads as follows:
“The driving force have to be no less than 18 years previous initially of the occasion of his first F1 competitors. On the sole discretion of the FIA, a driver judged to have not too long ago and constantly demonstrated excellent potential and maturity in single-seater method automotive competitors could also be granted a Tremendous Licence on the age of 17 years previous.”
Antonelli doesn’t flip 18 till August.
As well as, the earlier Article 13.1.2 has been deleted. That Article learn that “[t]he driver have to be the holder of a legitimate driving licence when he applies for a Tremendous Licence for the primary time.”
Antonelli is Italian, and the authorized age for a driving license in Italy is eighteen.
With this rule change, the door is open for Antonelli to obtain a dispensation from the FIA and be granted a Tremendous License earlier than his 18th birthday in August. The one different requirement is that the younger driver purchase the required 40 factors required for a Tremendous License.
Antonelli has already surpassed that threshold, having gained the Italian F4 Championship (12 factors), the ADAC Formulation 4 Championship (12 factors), the Formulation Regional Center East Championship (18 factors), and the Formule Regional European Championship (25 factors). These 67 factors clear the 40-point threshold. Complement 1 to Appendix L outlines how factors are granted for achievement in numerous competitions.
Now, simply because the rule has been modified doesn’t imply that Antonelli will see the grid this yr. When the difficulty of a dispensation was first raised forward of the Miami Grand Prix, together with hypothesis that Williams would exchange Logan Sargeant with Antonelli, Staff Principal James Vowles brushed these rumors apart.
However now no less than, that door is formally open.
