Formula One World Champion Stalls in Bid for Driver’s License

Jody Scheckter, once the crowned king of Formula One and the 1979 world champion, now finds himself in a predicament that would make even Mr. Bean blush with secondhand embarrassment. The man who once tore down the straights of Monza in a Ferrari is no longer allowed behind the wheel. The ten-time Grand Prix winner is now relegated to pedaling around on a bicycle like a Sunday tourist in Tuscany.

The reason is as simple as it is surreal—something a satirist might dream up on a whimsical day. Scheckter recently relocated to Italy, and it was there that his British driver’s license quietly expired into obsolescence. Italian law, it turns out, is entirely unmoved by sentiment, even the kind tinted in Ferrari red. If you want to drive in Italy, you must complete six driving lessons and pass two exams, all, naturally, in Italian. Language lessons not included.

“They’re definitely going to fail me,” Scheckter confessed to reporters. It’s no wonder—his Italian is about as fluent as anyone’s ability to sing in beetle. And since the law does not permit transferring his old rights like a vintage bottle of wine from one shelf to another, he must start from scratch.

Scheckter turned to those who might still feel the tug of nostalgia—Ferrari’s legal team. After all, it was their iconic red machine that once carried him to the top of the world. But even with their help, Italy’s bureaucratic fortress is proving hard to breach. The law is the law, even if you are a former prince of the racing world.

So for now, the aging racer pedals through the Italian countryside or hires a driver, living more like a retired oligarch than a former speed king. “But I do want my license back,” he insists. “I’ve chosen Italy as my home and I want to stay here.” Sadly, Italian officials remain utterly unmoved.