F1 Driver Salaries: Hamilton Top With $57,000,000 Deal

Paul Jeffrey

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F1 Driver Salary 2019.jpg

Formula One driver salaries for 2019 have been revealed, and unsurprisingly it is Lewis Hamilton at the top of the list - set to earn a staggering $57m basic wage this year.


When a driver can boast no less than five World Championship trophies in his cabinet back home, it is unsurprising that Grand Prix teams are willing to shell out some serious cash to secure their services for the next Formula One season - and having done just that during his 10 year stay in the top flight, Lewis Hamilton appears to have earned himself the privilege of a nice fat $57m pay cheque from his Mercedes employer next season.

With Hamilton topping both the success charts and pay scales, next up is his long time title rival and Ferrari number one Sebastien Vettel - the German raking in an impressive $45,000,000 for services to the Scuderia in 2019, some $41,500,000 more than his new for this season teammate Charles Leclerc! Who says experience doesn't get rewarded in Grand Prix racing?!?!

Big mover in the pay department for 2019 is the newly decked in yellow Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian moving over to Renault for the season ahead in search of a new challenge, and 17,000,000 more dollars in his bank account - incidentally leaving him a nice $3.5m boost over and above his former Red Bull teammate Verstappen, fourth on the list of earners this year.

Notable bargains for the year ahead include Robert Kubica, taking home "just" $570,000, and fellow comeback kid Daniil Kvyat, the never say die Russian fetching in $300,000 for his third shot at glory with Toro Rosso.

  1. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes - $57,000,000
  2. Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari - $45,000,000
  3. Daniel Ricciardo - Renault - $17,000,000
  4. Max Verstappen - Red Bull - $13,500,000
  5. Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes - $8,500,000
  6. Kimi Räikkönen - Sauber - $4,500,000
  7. Nico Hulkenberg - Renault - $4,500,000
  8. Carlos Sainz - McLaren - $4,000,000
  9. Charles Leclerc - Ferrari - $3,500,000
  10. Sergio Perez - Racing Point - $3,500,000
  11. Romain Grosjean - Haas - $1,800,000
  12. Pierre Gasly - Red Bull - $1,400,000
  13. Lance Stroll - Racing Point - $1,200,000
  14. Kevin Magnussen - Haas - $1,200,000
  15. Robert Kubica - Williams - $570,000
  16. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso - $300,000
  17. Lando Norris - McLaren - $260,000
  18. Antonio Giovinazzi - Sauber - $230,000
  19. George Russell - Williams - $180,000
  20. Alexander Albon - Toro Rosso - $170,000
2019 F1 driver salary details courtesy of Give Me Sport.

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17 million for Ricciardo at Renault!:confused: So now we know another reason for his surprise move to Renault ;), who seem to be spending a lot more on driver salaries than Red Bull this year. Let’s hope Renault will still have enough money to build a competitive car for Daniel and Nico this year. With this big salary difference between Daniel and Nico, I really hope Nico will be the faster driver of the two this year, just because I don’t think Daniel is that much better than Nico. Either way, I hope both can score some podiums this year.:D
 
Hmmm... I am very surprised by some of these salaries. Some of these drivers earn far less than the minimum salary in pro leagues such as the NHL, the NFL, etc. The salaries of the rookie drivers are surprisingly small. (By small, I hope people understand that everything is relative... I would not mind earning Russell's salary!)

I naively thought that the minimum salary of a F1 driver was $500,000... Also, I expected someone like Grosjean to make around $4M or so. As for Raikonnen, I wonder how much of a paycut he got by going to Sauber.
 
A very sad list when you look at the talent vs. dollar spread. I have no problem with Hamilton or Vettel being at the top, but the spread between the top two and the bottom six is ludicrous--even by sports standards.
 
A very sad list when you look at the talent vs. dollar spread. I have no problem with Hamilton or Vettel being at the top, but the spread between the top two and the bottom six is ludicrous--even by sports standards.

More ludicrous, how much is danger money in the equation
I mean each life has the same value........ apparently not
 

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