FIA confirms: How Verstappen obtained his Platinum rating

As announced last week, Max Verstappen is officially eligible to participate in a hypercar at the World Endurance Championship (WEC). Upon request by GPblog, the FIA disclosed the process that led to this outcome.

Last Thursday in Barcelona, ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Max Verstappen announced he had completed a form, sent it to the FIA, and had since received a Platinum rating. However, Verstappen did not specifically request a Platinum rating.

His request was to be assigned a category by the FIA. Given that Verstappen is a current Formula 1 driver and therefore holds a superlicense, he was automatically classified in the Platinum category. Should colleagues like Lewis Hamilton or Oscar Piastri make the same request, they too would be classified in the highest category.

The list of driver categories is updated daily. When a driver applies to be rated, the initial category is automatically generated by the system based on criteria that review someone's history in motorsport.

For example, if you are a holder of an F1 superlicense, or also if you are a world champion in an FIA championship of a certain class, then you are automatically Platinum. Therefore, Max Verstappen is, and so is Sebastian Ogier, who has platinum, with the Frenchman a multiple FIA World Rally Champion.

The complete list contains nearly 7000 drivers, and once a year, a committee reviews whether someone's classification should be adjusted based on recent performances and results. Age also plays a part. For example, drivers over the age of 55 are moved back a category.

Why does a driver ask for a rating? Being on the list indicates that a driver likely has the ambition to participate in endurance racing. No one is on the list without signing up via the FIA Driver Categorisation Platform. Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg, and Lance Stroll have thus done so at some point.