About F1

Driver contracts and the transfer market

F1 drivers sign contracts with their teams, usually for one to three years, and there's no transfer window. A driver can be announced for a new team at any time of year, though most moves are confirmed between spring and the end of the summer, a stretch fans call silly season.

Unlike football, there are no transfer fees in the usual sense. But if a team wants a driver who is still under contract elsewhere, it may have to pay to buy them out.

What's in a contract

Contracts are private, so most of what we know comes from the drivers and teams themselves, or from leaks. They typically cover:

  • salary, plus bonuses for points, podiums, wins and titles
  • the length of the deal, sometimes with an option for the team (or the driver) to extend it
  • performance clauses, which let a driver leave if the team isn't competitive enough, or let the team drop a driver who isn't getting results
  • release clauses and buyout fees
  • commercial duties, such as sponsor events and media days
  • rules on personal sponsors, helmet branding and what the driver can do outside F1

Driver salaries don't count towards the cost cap, which is one reason teams are still willing to pay top drivers very large sums.

Junior academies and options

Most teams run a driver academy. They pick up drivers in karting or the junior formulas, help pay for their racing, and in return often hold an option on their future. If the team doesn't have a seat, it might place the driver at a partner team or a customer team instead. Red Bull is the best-known example, moving drivers between its two teams and its junior programme.

The Contract Recognition Board

When two teams both claim to have a driver under contract, the dispute goes to the FIA's Contract Recognition Board (CRB). It's a panel of independent lawyers. Teams register their driver contracts with the CRB, and it decides which contract takes priority.

The board was set up after the row in 1991 when Michael Schumacher made his debut for Jordan and was then signed by Benetton a race later.

The most famous recent case came in 2022. When Fernando Alonso left Alpine for Aston Martin, Alpine announced its reserve driver, Oscar Piastri, as his replacement. Within hours Piastri posted that he had not signed with Alpine and would not drive for them. The CRB ruled that only his contract with McLaren, signed that July, was valid, and Piastri joined McLaren for 2023.

Mid-season changes

Teams can change drivers during the season, either because a driver is injured or ill, or because they're unhappy with results. Each team can use up to four different race drivers in a season, and a change has to be made before qualifying. A driver who is dropped is still owed whatever their contract says, which is why mid-season sackings can be expensive.

See rookies and reserve drivers for how teams cover for an absent driver, and the super licence for the licence every new driver needs.