Shocking Formula One love scandals – from legend’s orgy with 35 air hostesses to Brit driver ‘obsessed with threesomes’
AS a Formula One driver, being surrounded by beautiful women is par for the course, but some champs have been driven round the bend when their love lives are thrust into the spotlight.
With the new season getting underway on Sunday, all eyes will be on the likes of Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton as they battle it out on the track.
But some of our favourite F1 stars are famed for their off-track escapades as much as their racing exploits.
One driver had to grovel to his wife after being caught red-handed dancing with mystery women at a posh party, while another legend has boasted about bedding over 5,000 women.
In a world where speed meets seduction, these drivers live life in the fast lane – both on the circuit and behind closed doors.
Here, we dive into the scandalous romances of F1’s most notorious playboys, where every lap on the track is matched by a wild spin in the bedroom.
Sergio Perez
Back in 2022, Sergio Perez issued a grovelling public apology to his wife Carola Martinez after he was filmed dancing with mystery women in Monte Carlo, after his victory at the Monaco Grand Prix.
The Mexican racer got up close and personal with a brunette before dancing with his arms around a blonde’s waist.
Checo posted on Instagram: “It was a bad party that I didn’t know how to control at the height of the person that I am, but it was just that, a very bad party.
“People close to me know my values and the type of person that I am.
“For those who ask me, we are more united than ever, me and my wife.
“And for those who just want to hurt us, I wish you the best.
“Thank you all for your love and I apologise to all the people who love me because those videos don’t represent me not at all.
“We will not talk about this topic anymore, which only makes us forget the great moment we are living as a family. Thank you.”
James Hunt
F1 icon James Hunt sadly died in 1993 aged just 45, after suffering a heart attack – but he was the original racing playboy.
While his rival Jackie Stewart would famously abstain a week before a motor race, Hunt would often have sex minutes before climbing into the cockpit – and is rumoured to have bedded 5,000 women.
These are said to have included 35 British Airways air hostesses in Tokyo during his run to the 1976 F1 World Championship title.
His son Freddie told the Mirror: “There were witnesses. There was a fresh supply of hostesses.
“They would come to the hotel, stop over, then get on the plane the next day. There was a different one every night.”
Max Verstappen
Things got awkward on and off the race track for Red Bull star Max Verstappen and Russian driver Daniil Kvyat.
Verstappen has been dating Brazilian beauty Kelly Piquet – daughter of F1 legend Nelson Piquet – since 2020, but her ex is Kvyat, who drove in F1 from 2014 to 2017 and 2019 to 2020.
They even have a daughter, Penelope, together.
Not only is Verstappen now dating Kvyat’s ex and expecting his own baby with her, but he also nicked his Red Bull racing seat back in 2016. Ouch.
Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari Lewis Hamilton has had dalliances with many famous ladies, including Nicole Scherzinger, Danielle Lloyd and Rihanna.
In 2018, his model ex-girlfriend Veronica Valle – who dated him for three months in 2015 – made the sensational claim that the Ferrari driver is obsessed with threesomes.
Glamour model Veronica said Lewis, 40, was initially very “sweet” towards her, but sometimes lost his temper.
She said: “We were on the way to New York and Lewis went crazy after he found out that the pilot had pooped in the toilet.
“He was going to fire the pilot! He said, ‘Everybody knows that they shouldn’t take a s**t on my plane’. He was really mad.”
She also claimed Lewis made cruel jibes about her weight and told her the reason he and ex Nicole split was because she wanted to get married, but he “wasn’t ready”.
David Coulthard
F1 legend David Coulthard, 53, was married to Belgian TV star Karen Minier for nine years – until he split from her in 2022.
Not long after, he was spotted canoodling with Swedish model Sigrid Silversand – who is 23 years younger than him – and it was revealed in January that they’re now engaged.
Coulthard and Karen tied the knot in Monaco back in 2013 after meeting eight years earlier while she was covering the glitzy Grand Prix for French telly.
They have a son together – Dayton, born in 2008.
Sigrid isn’t the first model Coulthard has dated. He was previously engaged to American Heidi Wichlinski, whom he was with for four years until their split in 2001.
He then quickly moved on to Brazilian Simone Abdelnour that same year, and had a four-year relationship with her.
Jenson Button
Jenson Button famously won the 2009 Drivers’ Championship – and it was apparently due to a self-imposed sex ban.
In an attempt at improving his chances of winning his first world title, Button banned himself from sleeping with his then-girlfriend, Japanese model Jessica Michibata.
As he won, he thanked her and they ended up getting married in 2014.
However, less than a year later, they split.
Button later married Playboy model Brittny Ward – four years after they got engaged and welcomed two children.
Lando Norris
In 2022, McLaren-Mercedes driver Lando Norris, 25, announced he’d split from his model girlfriend Luisinha Oliveira – after he was caught inviting another model on a McDonald’s date.
When his flirty messages ended up online, Lando privately pleaded to the model “please delete them haha” before writing a gushing post about Luisinha, saying they’d decided to break up after eight months – a message he later deleted.
McLaren made no comment, and a source close to Norris told The Sun that he only messaged the mystery Dutch girl after ending it with Luisinha.
Lando later moved on and began a relationship with Portuguese model Margarida Corceiro. However, they called it quits and he now appears to be living the single life.