I was very annoyed at first after Williams sacked Russell to make room for me (legit had no idea Kubica is their #1 driver in the game), but I guess that's more realistic since they need the money.
- told Men's Health that he's the "first ever working class Champion" which...isn't even close to true.
Yeah.. no. McLaren paid his bills from '98 onwards, he was 13.
Red Bull academy: Verstappen, Ricciardo, Vettel, Gasly, Kvyat, Sainz Jr. and Albon
Ferrari academy: Giovinazzi, Leclerc and Perez
Mercedes academy: Russell and Ocon
McLaren academy: Hamilton, Norris and Magnussen
Renault academy: Grosjean
Rich dad: Stroll and Latifi
Other things worth mentioning; Verstappen, Magnussen, & Sainz dads old F1/rally drivers, probably not too difficult to attract sponsors. Bottas had Finnish companies Wihuri and Kemppi sponsor him throughout his karting and lower category career. Raikkonen was sponsored in karting and British Formula Renault by energy drink Battery, which is made by brewing company Sinebrychoff, which in turn is part of the Carlsberg Group. Perez had Mexican companies sponsoring Sauber when he was there.
Kimi is probably the least sponsored current driver prior to his F1 career, considering he only did two years of lower European/British classes prior to making the jump to F1. His parents were by no means rich either, they both had multiple jobs to support an expensive hobby for two (Kimi's older brother also did karting). Their house didn't have an indoor toilet until the early 90s, because most of the money went to karting. He's arguably about as close as you get to working class on the modern grid.
