This is how today's Formula 1 drivers looked during their karting days

We look back, in pictures, at the boys who over the years went on to reach the very top of motor racing.

Almost all the drivers who currently make up the Formula 1 grid spent their childhood in karts. Karting has always been the discipline where the great drivers learn their first driving skills, techniques that later served them to triumph in higher-level competitions. For this reason, it is important to remember those boys who went on to become what they are today. Here we have some of today’s Formula 1 drivers during their karting days. In the case of the most veteran drivers, Alonso and Räikkönen, the pictures were taken in the nineties; for the rest of the drivers, there is no need to look back so far.

Fernando Alonso

“El Nano” began racing karts almost as soon as he could reason. At seven years old (1988) he won his first official karting championship.

Lewis Hamilton

The British driver began racing karts at the age of 8, and Ron Dennis signed him when he was 10, promoting his career from the very beginning.

Sebastian Vettel

The German driver was also backed by Red Bull in his early karting days. In the following picture we can see him in 2001, a season in which he was genuinely competitive.

Kimi Räikkönen

The Finnish driver was a real revelation in his early karting days. Here we can see him in 1999. Practically 12 months later he signed his first Formula 1 contract with Sauber.

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen’s karting career was followed very closely by Formula 1 teams. Here we can see the Dutch driver in 2010, a year in which all the drivers mentioned above had already won a world title in Formula 1.

Nico Hülkenberg

No driver is infallible. As you can see, you don’t need the eyesight of a lynx to end up racing in Formula 1.

Carlos Sainz Junior

The Spanish driver did not follow his father’s footsteps into rallying and took up karting from a very young age. Here we can see him in a kart with Fernando Alonso’s own chassis.