Max Verstappen set to pay more than £800K as a super license fee while Lewis Hamilton set to pay approx £430K: Reports

It is being reported that Red Bull driver Max Verstappen will pay over £800k as a super license fee to the FIA which is almost double that of the new Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton for the 2025 season. The Dutch driver has been paying the highest amount as super license fees for the past four years which correlate with his championship standings.

Every driver on the grid has to pay a base fee of £9,357 for the 2025 season to get a spot for the upcoming year. A super license fee is a combination of the base fee and the per-point fee of the previous season's championship scored by the driver.

As per Autosport's X, Max Verstappen, who, en route to securing his fourth successive world championship amassed a whopping 437 points, will pay over £800k in super license fees, which is almost double Lewis Hamilton's approximate £430k as the latter scored 223 points in his final year with Mercedes.

McLaren driver Lando Norris, who pushed the Dutch driver in the 2024 season for the title, will see a massive increase in the super license fee that he will pay to the governing body with his total coming to over £700k. Norris is closely followed by Charles Leclerc, who will pay only a touch below the former's amount with his total standing at over £680k.

However, the pecking order for the super license fees could look a bit different at the beginning of the 2026 season with McLaren and Lando Norris looking strongest to take both titles in 2025.

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F1 pundit picks Lando Norris over Max Verstappen as title favorite

Former F1 driver and pundit Karun Chandhok believed that McLaren driver Lando Norris started off the 2025 season as a title favorite over Max Verstappen.

Speaking with Sky Sports F1, the former Caterham driver reflected on the upcoming season and spoke of Verstappen's chances (via Crash):

“It feels like an extension of last year. McLaren with the quickest car, the other three close, Max wringing its neck to get a lap time. It feels, expectedly with the stable rules, like we’ve carried on from Abu Dhabi. Liam Lawson has to lump it! And go along with what the team decides.

"Frankly, with what Max decides. He’s in a good position in terms of having the team behind him for the drivers’ championship. I think that, now Lando and Oscar have won their first races, they will improve this year. In my book, Lando is the favourite for the championship.”

Max Verstappen is vying to become only the second driver after Michael Schumacher to win five consecutive driver's championships in F1 history. However, he will also become the only driver to win his first five titles in successive years if he achieves the feat.