Max Verstappen‘s hefty points total brought him the 2024 Drivers’ Championship, but it has also landed him with a hefty bill.

F1 stars are forced to fork out for their mandatory Super License each season by the FIA, which costs at least £9,444 for each driver. However, that is only the base rate, with a further £1,907 added on top for each point the driver accumulated during the previous season.

Tallying the base rate up with each of Verstappen’s 437 points for the campaign which concluded in Abu Dhabi on Sunday takes his Super License price tag up to a dizzying £845k.

The Dutchman is not shy in criticising various aspects of being an F1 driver, and unsurprisingly, being forced to pay for the Super License has rubbed him up the wrong way.

“I think the sum is absurd,” he told ServusTV last year. “I don’t think it’s right that we have to pay so much. That’s not the case in other sports either. And there are more and more races.”

With an estimated annual salary of £59million, Verstappen would have plenty left over even if he was forced to pay for the Super License himself. But Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has revealed that the team foot the bill on behalf of their star driver.

“I’m afraid we have to pay that, if I have our contract right in my head,” said the Austrian.

One consolation for Verstappen and Red Bull is that the overall cost of his Super License has decreased since last year, when his monstrous 575-point haul in the 2023 Drivers’ Championship blew the rest of the field out of the water.

With Lando Norris finishing the 2024 season as Verstappen’s nearest title contender, he too will be faced with an eye-watering Super License bill clocking in at just under £725k. Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz have also racked up big totals after solid campaigns of their own.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton got off comparatively lightly. The Brit, who will return to the grid with Ferrari next season, will be charged £436k – just over half of Verstappen’s total – after finishing seventh in the title race with Mercedes.

There is little to worry about for Sauber newcomer Gabriel Bartoleto, Mercedes recruit Kimi Antonelli or Alpine’s Jack Doohan, who only need to pay the base rate, having not put a single point on the board this season.