Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has revealed that he was tasked with making sure no other 17-year-old driver could enter Formula 1 after Red Bull's Max Verstappen was awarded his in 2014.
Before his job with Racing Bulls, Mekies was part of the FIA as a safety director nearly a decade ago.
The Frenchman admitted that his first job given to him by then FIA president Jean Todt was to reform the super licence process, to stop anyone repeating Verstappen's controversial entry to the sport.
READ MORE: 'Tragic' Eliesa Katoa incident re-ignites scrutiny of Tonga's treatment of injured stars
READ MORE: Roosters recruit Daly Cherry-Evans set to face Manly for first time in early-season grudge match
READ MORE: Ian Botham admits two lingering England concerns as Ashes series looms
"I reached the FIA just as Max got his Super Licence at 17, and the very, very first thing Jean Todt, the president of the FIA at the time, asked me to do, he said: 'Well, you know what, this young kid, Max, he just got his licence at 17 years old. That's ridiculous'," said Mekies.
"'You know, people will not understand why you cannot have a driving licence for the street and you can drive a Formula 1 car, so please look at it with your team.'
"'Make a new structure for how you get a super licence, because this cannot happen again.'
"So thanks to Max being that outstanding, we now have a completely new super licence point system, including the minimum age.
"It's better he doesn't know that I was trying to stop him just a bit," he added.
Now the guardrails for an FIA super licence are much more stringent, with a host of requirements including a minimum of 40 points collected with a three-year period and a minimum age of 18.
Only very exceptional circumstances will be allowed to bend any rules, Kimi Antonelli was given exceptional status to drive in practice before his 18th birthday in preparation for his debut with Mercedes in 2025.
The FIA super licence has been in discussion for years, with changes regularly being made to the points scaling.
Formula 2 is the only category that awards the top three championship finishers 40 super licence points, effectively handing them all an express ticket to Formula 1.
The rest of the categories find themselves on a sliding scale decided by the FIA.
Even IndyCar driver Colton Herta has announced his decision to move to the European junior category in a bid to make up the five extra points he needs to allow him to drive in Formula 1.
| Championship | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| FIA Formula 2 | 40 | 40 | 40 |
| IndyCar* | 40 | 30 | 20 |
| FIA Formula 3 | 30 | 25 | 20 |
| FIA Formula E Championship | 30 | 25 | 20 |
| FIA WEC (LMP1 only) | 30 | 24 | 20 |
| Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine | 25 | 20 | 15 |
| Super Formula | 25 | 20 | 15 |
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.