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From Lewis Hamilton’s £1.5m one-off supercar to Stirling Moss’s 17-horsepower French quadricycle, what the giants of Grand Prix drive BETWEEN races.

THE Formula 1 2017 season kicks off in Melbourne in two weeks’ time, with Britain’s Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes hot favourite to reclaim his world championship. Millions of viewers will marvel at the cars the F1 stars drive every second Sunday – but what they choose to drive between races may surprise you. Here we present the often odd road-car choices of some of F1’s biggest names both past and present…

JENSON BUTTON FORD GT £265,000, 205MPH

The charismatic British former world champion – pictured, left, with girlfriend Brittny Ward – retired at the end of last season, so he’ll have more time to drive his impressive collection of cars. They once included a 253mph Bugatti Veyron, and you could have bought his Ford GT supercar, above, at auction earlier this year for £265,000. It just goes to show that Jenson has great taste: the GT was an instant classic, and values have more than doubled.

JAMES HUNT AUSTIN A35 VAN £6,500, 65MPH

Formula 1 world champion in 1976, Hunt was a playboy who owned Porsches and Mercedes. But his favourite car was his Austin A35 van, in which he transported his prize budgerigars. It sold at auction for £13,000 – twice the normal price.

MAX VERSTAPPEN PORSCHE 911 GT3 RS £131,296, 193MPH

Aged just 17, Verstappen became F1’s youngestever driver in 2015, and competed in 14 Grands Prix before getting his driving licence. Last summer he treated himself to this raucous, stripped-out Porsche 911 GT3 RS.

DAMON HILL VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT 2.0 TDI £24,295, 137MPH

Despite being a former F1 world champion, Damon Hill admits he’s not a huge car enthusiast and is far more interested in fast motorbikes. His first car was a 1964 Volkswagen Beetle and his current one is another VW: a standard Passat diesel.