Formula 1 2021 Drivers Salary

With few Formula 1 driver salaries publicly available, Forbes relied on financial documents, legal filings and press leaks as well as conversations with industry insiders and consultants to compile this list. Drivers typically receive a base salary plus bonuses for points scored or for race or championship wins, with the amount depending on the size of the team and the experience of the driver. A successful driver in F1 can earn a lot of money, and reports showed in 2021, F1 earned more than $2 billion in revenue. F1 drivers receive additional bonuses through sponsorship opportunities and contractual agreements and endorsements rather than race prize money from F1.

Formula One group placed a cost cap on each team in 2021 of $145 Million throughout the season. This cost cap only applies to performance-based costs like building, optimizing engines, and car structuring, including salaries paid to engineers and other staff. The cost cap also applies to branding, bonuses, hotels, and travel expenses. Formula One driver salaries are not affected by the cost cap, and teams can pay their drivers as much as they like. Formula One drivers do not receive prize money; their teams pay their salaries.

Generally, the drivers or the teams do not disclose their total earnings. The highest-paid F1 driver is Lewis Hamilton, who earned $65 million from his contract with Mercedes. Leading the pack is Mercedes superstar Lewis Hamilton, who is on pace to earn $62 million on the track in 2021. That figure includes a $55 million base salary—more than double what his closest competitor is guaranteed—as well as a projected $7 million in bonuses for race wins. Lewis Hamilton, who replaced Michael Schumacher at Mercedes in 2012, has become an icon on the same level as his predecessor. Last year, Hamilton matched Schumacher's record with his seventh F1 drivers' championship, and he has dominated the competition with his earnings the way that Schumacher, the world's highest-paid athlete in 2000 and 2001, once did.

The 36-year-old signed a two-year contract extension with Mercedes this summer, following up on a three-year, $140 million deal in 2015 and a two-year, $100 million extension in 2018. He is also the founder of X44, a team in the new off-road electric-SUV racing series Extreme E. Hamilton, who has four wins through ten races, still has time to overtake Verstappen, with the gap in the standings a mere eight points and 12 races remaining on the schedule .

If you are a Formula 1 fan, then it's not surprising that F1 legend Lewis Hamilton is the highest-paid Formula 1 driver right now. The world champion Hamilton making $65 million from his deal with Mercedes while his rival Max Verstappen earn around $23.5 million with Red Bull, and Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel is now far behind with reported earnings of $23 million. 2021 has witnessed a few contract extension and increment in the F1 driver salaries.

His bonus is paid by contractual agreements and sponsorships rather than from F1. Verstappen is ranked number two on the Forbes list of highest-paid Formula 1 drivers. Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen is the driver in pole position to receive that championship bump this year, pushing him up to a projected $42 million in salary and bonuses, comfortably No. 2 on the earnings list.

Formula 1 2021 Drivers Wages He is followed by Fernando Alonso, with $25 million in his debut season at Alpine. The top earners in Formula 1 drivers also include F1 Driver Sebastian Vettel, who has signed a record deal with Aston Martin F1 and has an annual salary of $23 million per year. Max Verstappen has extended his contract with the Red Bull till 2023 and will receive a base salary of $23.5 million per season.

Sebastian Vettel won four straight championships with Red Bull from 2010 to 2013 before jumping to Ferrari, a stint that ended with a disappointing 2020 for both the driver and the team. Still, the drivers' salaries should continue to make up for the marketing gap. Unlike most professional sports in the United States, where agents and even teams regularly release contract figures, Formula 1 is still a rather closed society in that regard and actual figures are not released. In F1, drivers typically work for a base salary plus bonuses for wins and place in the final standings. As the most decorated Formula One driver in history, Schumacher holds the records for the most career wins and the most wins in a season, the most consecutive race wins, the most consecutive world championships, and the most career pole positions. Prize money in F1 is divided into two, with one half divided amongst the top 10 ranked teams in the championship based on their reported race results.

The other half of the money goes to shareholders and the Formula One group. The primary prize money is calculated at around 47.5 percent of Formula One's profit. The salary of an F1 race car driver depends on the contract he signed with the team and bonuses and points earned during the season.

The number six position on our list of top F1 earners goes to Irish driver Eddie Irvine who had a successful ten-year F1 racing career with Ferrari, Jaguar, and Jordan during the 1990s. After four wins at Ferrari, Eddie Irvine moved to team Jaguar in 2000. In 2001 he became the only driver to get team Jaguar to the podium. The four-time F1 champion is one of the most successful drivers in racing history. The 66-year-old is the oldest driver on the top earner list with an estimated net worth of $185 million.

The highest-paid driver is Lewis Hamilton, who earned $65 million with Mercedes, while Max Verstappen earned $23.5 million with Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton's salary is $65million a year, and his 3-year contract with Mercedes is worth $200 million. Whilst Sir Lewis Hamilton's future in the sport is not yet clear, there have been less changes than normal this winter in terms of brand-new drivers arriving into the sport.

However, with significant driver change within teams, there is a lot to make note of with regards to driver salaries for the new season. Various sources within the F1 paddock and across teams were consulted in order to make the list as reliable as possible. All salaries exclude performance bonuses and income from personal sponsors. Meanwhile, drivers with a + behind their contract have an option to extend. At present, seven-time World Champion Hamilton is the highest-paid driver in F1 with an estimated salary of $40 million a year, some 15 million ahead of 2021 title-winner Verstappen – with both drivers locked into their deals until 2023.

F1 drivers' salaries are huge, but that's not the entire story. This might be where a driver receives a sum based on winning a race, scoring a certain number of points, or finishing above a certain position. If there's one thing Max Verstappen missed out on in 2021, it was this list. The champion and his on-track exploits this past season need no introduction.

Being arguably the biggest star in F1 today, Verstappen earned a salary of $25 million. Although he was signed on for a salary of $5 million, projections that include bonuses from race wins and performances took up his tally to as high as $18 million in 2021. But one thing the budget cap didn't include was the drivers' salary. This meant teams could spend as much money as they want or as the drivers wanted in form of salaries.

This list, from Race Fans, is made up of the drivers' base salaries, though they can earn salary-boosting bonuses by hitting performance-related objectives. F1 teams have to operate within a budget cap for the first time this year, and though it does yet not cover payments to drivers, that may change in the future. Early in the season it became clear Hamilton was on course to score a record-equalling seventh Formula 1 championship success, which would further raise his already sky-high market value. Although Hamilton played down the importance of his salary in discussions over his new deal, reports claimed F1's highest-earning driver was seeking a further pay rise. See Formula 1 Prize Money 2021 if you want to know how much do F1 drivers get paid for winning a race.

Englishman Lewis Hamilton also signed a new 3-year-deal to remain with Mercedez, which is worth $31 million a year plus up to $10 million in bonuses. This makes him the second-highest paid driver behind Vettel in 2021. Carlos Sainz has earned praise for keeping up with his teammate Charles Leclerc in his debut season at Ferrari, the fourth team of his relatively brief career. The son of a rally racing champion, the 26-year-old has had the unenviable task of replacing both Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel . After two years away from the F1 track, Fernando Alonso is back with Alpine.

The 39-year-old, once at the center of the series' Spygate and Crashgate scandals, has rebuilt himself into a tremendously popular driver, in part by broadening his auto-racing horizons. In recent years, he has competed in the ​​Indianapolis 500, entered the Dakar Rally and won the endurance races 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Daytona. The Spaniard won the drivers' championship in 2005 and 2006 with Renault—an earlier incarnation of his current team. That means F1 driver salaries are not affected by the cost cap, and teams can spend an unlimited amount on their drivers. And as for projected earnings, Forbes predicted Hamilton earned over $62 million in 2021.

Lewis Hamilton is the highest-paid driver in Formula One, according to research. A deal with Ferrari worth $65 million guaranteed per year excluding bonuses, which makes him one of the highest-paid sportsperson in the world. Next, we go from one of the younger drivers on the grid to one of the oldest, with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso earning £14.60m after returning to the sport with Alpine. That will make a strong case for anyone arguing that the time has come to put a cap on how much money F1 drivers earn. Last year Hamilton admitted he did not feel comfortable negotiating a "big contract" while so many people were losing their jobs due to the pandemic. And having already surpassed footballer David Beckham as Britain's highest-earning sportsperson of all time, Hamilton is arguably in a position where he can afford to take less.

Alain Prost invested in stock, property, and endorsement deals on top of his race earnings that secured his net worth. The twice Formula One world champion is considered one of the greatest F1 race car drivers in history. His estimated income during his career is $ 240 million. Hamilton's estimated net worth is $280 million as one of the most marketable drivers with endorsement deals with Monster Energy, L'Oreal, Reebok and Santander, and many others thought to earn $ 55 million a season in sponsorships. In February 2021, Lewis signed a 1-year contract with Mercedes for the 2021 season, which gave him a base salary of $55M. According to Forbes, Hamilton's worth was estimated at $54 million in May 2020.

His endorsements alone reached $12 million, which pushed Hamilton's career earnings close to $285 million. When Kimmi Raikkonen returned to F1 in 2012, he negotiated with Williams and the Lotus team boss Gérard Lopéz agreed to a €50,000 bonus for every world championship point Kimmi scored during the two-year contract as an example. He was so successful at earning points he accumulated 390 points in two years, which earned him €19.5 million in bonuses. There is a lot of money to be made in Formula One if you are a successful driver.

In 2020 reports showed Formula 1 earned $2 billion in revenue. How much does a race winner take home, or how much does the team earn? Here we answer all the questions about Formula 1 prizemoney.

Sebastian Vettel is the highest paid Formula 1 driver in the 2021 F1 season with a record 3-year-deal with Ferrari worth $150 million. Sebastian Vettel is also one of the highest-paid sportsmen in the world. Vettel will earn guaranteed $50m (£33.4m) in first year. We take a look at every F1 driver salary and contract details for 2021. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were the absolute and undisputed stars of the last Formula 1 season.

The two battled for the title until the last lap of the last Grand Prix of the season. Analyzing their presence in the top racing series ahead of the next championship, it can be said that they are the top of this sport not only as regards the purely sporting aspect, but also for the economic one. In fact, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen find themselves in the first two positions of a ranking referring to the highest salaries, by contract, for the 2022 Formula 1 season. This is not surprising, given the clear supremacy shown by the two rivals over the competition during the last year. Most F1 drivers earn millions of dollars each season as they crisscross the globe to entertain a massive fanbase.

For the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, their salaries are in the tens of millions – streets ahead of those at the back of the grid. The driver making the most of those bonuses, according to Forbes, is McLaren's Lando Norris. Norris reportedly is driving for a base salary of $3 million, but is on pace for another $6 million based on his third-place standing in the F1 Drivers' Championship and McLaren's third-place standing in the F1 Constructors' Championship.

As you know, Lewis Hamilton is the richest sportsperson in Britain as per Forbes. Hamilton earns a yearly salary of $65million as per his 3-year Contract with Mercedes, worth around $200 million. Senna, Prost and Mansell used to get about a million a race back in the late 80's and early 90's. This list seems low considering 30 odd years have passed.

I guess the teams are so much bigger and more expensive that the driver is worth less overall as a component of the team. He isn't the only multiple champion whose salary has fallen this year. Aston Martin is believed to be paying Sebastian Vettel half what he earned in his final season at Ferrari.

Vettel and team mate Lance Stroll are understood to be paid directly by the manufacturer, rather than the team. The value of Lewis Hamilton's next contract with Mercedes – and whether he would keep his place on top of the F1 drivers' salary list – was a matter of speculation throughout last season. Sebastian Vettel driving for Aston Martin earns $23 million. A few contract extensions and F1 driver salary increments were seen in 2021, increasing salaries.

If Hamilton decides to keep racing and not retire, the British icon will remain the highest-paid driver. His base salary is around 35 million euros and only has one further year left to run with Mercedes, whilst current World Champion Max Verstappen earns around 22 million euros with Red Bull. Here are the top 10, including base salary for the 2021 season, year to date bonuses, and projected bonuses. In fact, with so many items included under the cap, it is expected that some of the richer teams will even be able to fork over more money to top drivers in the near future. While Formula 1's budget cap of $145 million was introduced ahead of the 2021 season, driver salaries are exempt from the cap calculation.

While we've demonstrated it's difficult to estimate how much F1 drivers salaries are worth, many have tried. Below, you will find the widely reported salaries of Formula 1 drivers in the 2021 season. This differs from other sports that operate a salary cap on players. For instance, in the NFL teams are not permitted to spend more than $182.5million on the salaries of players in the team.

F1 drivers generally don't boast about how much they're paid, but that doesn't stop the press from speculating. For instance, when Lando Norris was handed a new two-year deal with McLaren in 2021, it was estimated the contract was worth £6 million per year. He took home a salary of $25 million, but bonuses coming from his podium finish in Qatar or defensive masterclass in Hungary should mean he earned more. If there's a driver that knows the meaning of perseverance, then it's Sergio Perez. After facing an uncertain future in the sport at the end of 2020, the Mexican was signed by Red Bull to strengthen their challenge to Mercedes in 2021.