Are the current F1 drivers the best in the world?

Here’s a list of current F1 drivers who are billionaires or sons of billionaires or multi-millionaires:

Lance Stroll, son of Lawrence Stroll

Nicholas Latifi, son of Micheal Latifi who is worth around $2.5bn

Charles Leclerc’s grandfather started Mecaplast (now Novares Group) and his uncle is chairman of the board. 2015 revenue was €734 M.

Zhou Guanyu’s parents are a secret. Internet rumours suggest they are wealthy and they did afford to send him to the UK for go-karting.

Lando Norris’s father is relatively poor, only worth £205million.

Mick Schumacher, Carlos Sainz Jr., Kevin Magnussen and Max Verstappen are all sons of very successful racing drivers, undoubtedly with fortunes in the millions of dollars.

So 9 of 21 F1 drivers are multi-millionaires. I’m not saying that these drivers aren’t talented, heck one is a world champion already. However, it’s probably easier to get the gig when your dad can literally buy a team for you.

On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton’s father was an IT manager, salesman, dishwasher and contractor. Imagine how much faster Hamilton has to be to avoid getting kicked out for some rich kid.

As a F1 fan since 1992 or so, I’m some what used to this. Small teams always “hired” drivers that could bring more sponsorship than what they cost. However, it feels like these new rent-a-drivers aren’t getting places at near bankrupt teams, but actually competitive ones.

Moreover, they don’t seem to drive very well. I don’t watch every race anymore, but when I do, I see people running into each other or the wall in a way that would have gotten the richest rent-a-driver fired in the past. After all, cars are expensive, or at least they used to be.

How F1 getting attention with this crop of drivers is beyond me.