F1 driver risks losing driving licence over military service dispute

F1 driver Paul Aron risks losing his driving licence due to a bizarre dispute over medicals and military service, according to reports from Estonia.

The young Estonian driver has been pushing for a full-time F1 seat since finishing third in F2 in 2024.

Aron has since served as a reserve driver for Alpine, as well as a test driver for Sauber/Audi in each of the last two years, and has popped up in a number of FP1 sessions over that time.

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Paul Aron skipped a number of mandatory medical tests

However, Estonian newspaper Ohtuleht reports that Aron is having some trouble with the authorities in his home country - specifically regarding a mandatory medical examination, which is a prerequisite for military service in the country.

Estonian men must by law enter the military service by conscription between the ages of 18 and 27, 'to train reserve units necessary for the defence of Estonia and to create the prerequisites for entering into service as professional members of the Defence Forces', if they are fit to do so.

The 22-year-old Aron is, clearly, an Estonian citizen between those ages.

The medical examination is to assess whether he is fit to be conscripted, but the driver has now ignored seven separate summons for the evaluation over the course of the last two years.

He is said to have already paid fines totalling €1,940 for his repeated no-shows, with the Estonian Defence Resources Agency finally taking the case to court to encourage his compliance. They requested that his drivers' license be temporarily suspended, to which the court agreed.

Aron appealed what he called a 'disproportionate' decision but was unsuccessful, and must now appear for an examination by November 13 or lose his license. His lawyer told the newspaper that he intends to do so before the deadline.

Of course, not having a road license is famously no barrier to being an F1 driver. Max Verstappen, Kimi Antonelli and Avid Lindblad are among the drivers to compete without a road licence, with the latter still working his way toward one - passing his theory test last month.

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