F1 Drivers Who Started in Karting, and the Four I Raced

By Alessio Lorandi, 2013 CIK-FIA World Champion, KF-Junior. Driver facts checked against the sources linked in the text on 5 October 2026.

If you look for F1 drivers who started in karting, you get the same list everywhere. Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, Schumacher, Senna.

I’m going to give you that list too, with the ages and the titles checked one by one.

But I can add something those lists can’t. I raced some of these guys. Verstappen for a couple of races, Leclerc, Russell, and Lando Norris from 2012 to 2014. So for those four I will tell you what I saw from the kart next to them.

Do all F1 drivers start in karting?

Almost all of them. Every driver I talk about on this page did, apart from one.

Damon Hill, world champion in 1996, started in motorcycle racing in 1981. He did his first full season in cars in 1985 and got to F1 in 1992, at 31. His biography lists no kart racing at all.

But that was a different era. Today the road is karts first, then cars.

Why? Because it works like any other sport. Is it better to start playing tennis at 5 years old or at 15? Clearly at 5. You build the muscle memory, you build the stamina, you get that sense of speed early. Racing is no different.

If you want to see how the steps look from the first kart up to the senior classes, I wrote it down in the karting ladder from 6 to 16 years old.

At what age did F1 drivers start karting?

Most of them between 3 and 8 years old. Here are the ones I could check today, with where the number comes from.

I started very young too. I remember my dad holding the kart from a leash. I wanted to go flat out, and I didn’t know yet how to turn. Without that leash I would have probably gone into the walls.

So should you put your kid in a kart at 3? Not necessarily. It doesn’t come only with age. Some kids are fearless at 5. Others at 9 or 10 are still afraid of the speed, and pushing them too soon is a mistake. I go deeper on this in what’s the ideal age to start karting.

Which F1 driver started karting at 13?

Nicholas Latifi. He began karting at 13, in 2009, and he raced in F1 for Williams from 2020 to 2022 (Wikipedia). Of the drivers I could check, he is the one who started the latest.

Ayrton Senna is the other name that comes up with 13. But be careful. Senna was 13 when he could race for the first time. He was already driving a kart well before that. More on him in the next section.

So starting to drive late and starting to race late are two different things.

Does starting earlier guarantee success? Yes and no. But mostly yes. The earlier you start, the more skills and muscle memory you can build. There’s no way around it.

But listen, I’ve also seen drivers that were terrible at the beginning of their career turning into phenomenal drivers, just by practicing more or practicing better than the other kids. I believe talent is overrated.

So if your kid is 11 or 12 and starting now, the table above tells you it’s rare. Latifi tells you it has been done. And if you are the one starting, as an adult, that’s another story. I answered it here: can adults start karting late.

And practicing better is something a driver can learn. That is what my six month training program is for, with lessons you watch when you want and a live call with me every week.

How did Ayrton Senna start in karting?

In a go-kart built by his dad. According to Formula1.com, he could not race competitively until he was 13, and he won on his debut at a kart track near the Sao Paulo F1 circuit. In 1977 he won the South American Karting Championship.

Then he came to Europe. He contested the Karting World Championship five times, from 1978 to 1982. He finished runner-up in 1979 and in 1980. From 1978 to 1980 his teammate and rival at DAP was Terry Fullerton (Wikipedia).

So Senna never won the karting world title. Five tries. And he still became Senna.

Keep that in mind the next time your kid loses a final.

I watched the Netflix series on him twice. The second time with my drivers. And I put what I took from it in what karting drivers can learn from Ayrton Senna.

How did Lewis Hamilton start in karting?

He began karting in 1993. Two years later, at ten, he was the youngest British cadet champion. That same year he went up to Ron Dennis at the Autosport Awards and asked for his autograph.

In 1998 he was signed to the McLaren-Mercedes Young Driver Programme. He was still in karts.

And in 2000 he became European Champion in Formula A with maximum points, and won the Karting World Cup too. All of this is on his Wikipedia page, with the references.

Look at the dates. From 1993 to 2000. That’s seven years in karts before the big title. And then seven F1 world titles.

People see the F1 part. They don’t see the seven years before.

How did Michael Schumacher start in karting?

With very little money. That’s the part I like.

When he was four, his father put a small motorcycle engine on his pedal kart. He became the youngest member of the karting club at Kerpen-Horrem. Later his father built him a kart from discarded parts, and took a second job renting and repairing karts to keep him racing.

He got his first licence in Luxembourg at 12. He was German Junior Kart Champion in 1982, and by 1987 he was German and European kart champion (Wikipedia).

And he never really left karting. I used to see him at the paddock so many times, while he was looking after his son Mick. Mick was friends with my teammates in 2013 and he raced against us back then.

A seven-time F1 world champion, standing in a karting paddock like any other dad.

When did Sebastian Vettel start karting?

At three. He began racing in kart series in 1995, at eight.

In 1998 he was accepted into the Red Bull Junior Team. In 2001 he won the Junior Monaco Kart Cup (Wikipedia).

So Red Bull had him three years after his first kart series. By the way, it’s the same story as Hamilton with McLaren. The people at the top were already watching the karting paddock back then.

Vettel is a different generation from mine. So for him I only give you the facts.

How did Fernando Alonso start karting?

By accident, basically. His father built a kart for his older sister, Lorena. She showed no interest. So it went to Fernando.

He won his first kart race at seven, in Pola de Laviana. Then he was Spanish junior champion every year from 1993 to 1996. And in 1996 he won the CIK-FIA Five Continents Cup at Genk (Wikipedia).

Two F1 world titles came later. His first kart is in his museum today.

Same as Schumacher, the kart was made at home by his dad. You see how many of these stories start with a father and some tools?

Which current F1 drivers did I race in karts?

I’ve been lucky enough to race against some of them. Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Lando Norris, and Max Verstappen for a couple of races.

George Russell. I raced with him a lot in karting, and he was already very talented back then. He started at seven, in 2005, and he was European champion in KF3 in 2012 (Mercedes). That same year I got my first WSK Euro Series win, in KF3 at Val d’Argenton. To get it I had to pass George, who was on an Intrepid.

Charles Leclerc. He began at five at Brignoles, and in 2011 he won the KF3 World Cup at Sarno and the CIK-FIA Academy Trophy (Wikipedia). I was at that World Cup. I had just come up from 60 Mini, and in qualifying I was 3rd overall out of 102 drivers. Charles was P1. Max was P2. Then I took penalties in the heats and I was 28th.

Later Charles was my teammate in FIA Formula 3, in 2015 at Van Amersfoort Racing. I could rarely match his speed in qualifying. He seemed to pull a different gear from free practice. And he’s one of those drivers who is always very hard and honest with himself.

Max and Lando get their own sections below, because there is more to say.

What was Max Verstappen like in karting?

He was the one to beat. Everybody was kind of afraid of him on track. But mostly they had a big respect for him.

I raced him just for two races or so. He is one year older, so he was always a category above me.

The biggest wolf I’ve ever seen in my karting days was Max. He had this aura around him. He looked so serious, almost angry all the time. Like a mini Terminator on the track. And if I, at 12 years old, could tell he was such a strong character, everyone else could. Most of them would move and let him by.

People say it was all his dad. Jos had a big influence, sure. The FIA wrote that Jos prepared his engines. But the hunger was his. He built it himself.

The numbers: in 2013, at 15, Max was European Champion in KF and in KZ, and KZ World Champion at Varennes. That’s from the FIA’s own report. Charles was runner-up in that KZ world championship.

The one he missed was the KF world title in Bahrain. He and Nicklas Nielsen crashed into each other in the final, and Tom Joyner became champion (CIK-FIA report). That was the same day I was crowned world champion in juniors. In 2014 he moved to cars.

How good was Lando Norris in karting?

Very good. And I say it as the one who raced him the most.

We raced each other from 2012 to 2014. Excluding DNFs, I finished ahead 18 times and he finished ahead 7. The first time was October 2012, WSK Final Cup at Castelletto di Branduzzo. I was P2 with the fastest lap. He was P20.

Then came 2013 and he arrived for real. At La Conca I won the WSK Super Master Series round and he was P2. In the Euro Series round there, he won and I was P2. I took the WSK Super Master Series that year. He took the WSK Euro Series and the European title. Between us we won 11 races out of 19 that year, and most of those races had 90 or more drivers entering.

And in Bahrain, at the world championship, Lando won the final and I took the title.

The year after, at 14, he became KF World Champion, the youngest driver to win at that level according to the FIA. In 2025 he became F1 world champion.

The full story, race by race, is in my 18-7 karting rivalry with Lando Norris.

Why do F1 drivers start in karting?

Because there is no other place where a kid can do so many laps, against so many drivers, so early.

Say for instance that World Cup at Sarno. 102 drivers in one category. My races against Lando, 90 or more most of the time. You learn to fight in the pack because you have no choice.

Then there’s practice. If the kid could practice almost every day, he’s going to become an unbelievably quick driver. Up to five, six days a week. At the end of the day that’s what the F1 drivers did. Max, Alex Albon, George, Charles. They all practiced a lot. I can relate to that. I also practiced a lot, and I won a world championship.

If you don’t practice you may win by luck. But you will not win because you are the best driver on the track.

And then the head. Karting is where you find out if you are a wolf or a sheep. When I was a kid I wanted to be as dominant as Nyck de Vries in terms of pace, and I hoped to emulate Max’s aggressiveness.

If the pressure side is where your driver struggles, read how to handle pressure in kart racing.

Does winning in karting get you to F1?

No. And I can tell you first hand.

I won the CIK-FIA world title in KF-Junior in 2013. I had that 18-7 with Lando. He is F1 world champion. I am not.

This is not to say I was the better driver. I’d be a fool to say so.

It’s to say that karting is just the stepping stone. It’s the springboard. But it’s not the most defining period of a career. Then you go to cars, and you cannot just rely on your results, your talent, your speed. F1 is not really just a sport, it’s more of a business. You need a financial strategy and a sponsorship strategy.

Some drivers get a hundred days of testing before their first formula car race. I had ten, maximum. It was one of the things I suffered the most.

So what do you take from this list? Start early if you can. Practice as much as possible. And the kid needs to want it more than everybody else. If that is there, karting will give him everything these drivers got from it.

The rest comes after.

Just Senndit

Alessio Lorandi

Frequently asked questions

Which F1 driver started karting at 13?

Nicholas Latifi began karting at 13, in 2009, and raced in F1 for Williams from 2020 to 2022. Ayrton Senna was also 13 when he could race competitively for the first time, but he was already driving a kart built by his dad before that.

Which F1 driver started karting the latest?

Of the drivers I could check, Nicholas Latifi, at 13. Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, is a different case. He came from motorcycle racing and his biography lists no kart racing at all.

Do all F1 drivers start with karting?

Almost all of them. Hamilton, Schumacher, Vettel, Alonso, Senna, Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris and Russell all started in karts. Damon Hill is the exception on this page.

When do F1 drivers start karting?

Most of the ones on this page started between 3 and 8 years old. Vettel at 3, Verstappen and Schumacher at 4, Leclerc at 5, Russell at 7, Hamilton and Norris at 8.

Did Max Verstappen win a karting world championship?

Yes. In 2013, at 15, he was KZ World Champion and European Champion in both KF and KZ, according to the FIA. He moved to cars in 2014.

Did Lando Norris win a karting world championship?

Yes. In 2014, at 14, he became CIK-FIA KF World Champion, the youngest driver to win at that level according to the FIA.