Max Verstappen, from Red Bull Racing, has not only dominated the circuits but also topped the Formula 1 (F1) earnings chart. The top ten h...
Max Verstappen, from Red Bull Racing, has not only dominated the circuits but also topped the Formula 1 (F1) earnings chart. The top ten highest-paid F1 drivers in 2023 collectively earned $258 million this year.
Max Verstappen just concluded the most dominant season in F1 history, securing a record 19 wins (out of 22 races) and clinching the Drivers' Championship on October 7th. It's no surprise then that he is also the financial champion of the sport, with an estimated salary and bonuses of $70 million this year, placing him at the top of the highest-paid F1 drivers' list in 2023. At 26 years old, Max Verstappen claims the top spot for the second consecutive season, ahead of Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes, who earned around $55 million on the F1 circuits in 2023.
In total, the top ten highest-paid F1 drivers earned $258 million in 2023 before taxes, slightly down from $264 million in 2022.
Unlike Forbes' income rankings in sports like football or the NBA, the F1 drivers' ranking excludes earnings from commercial activities such as sponsorships, focusing solely on salaries and sport-related bonuses. Since drivers are generally required to make appearances on behalf of their team and its partners, most of them put little effort into securing personal sponsorships. Only a handful are expected to earn over a million dollars annually, with Lewis Hamilton's off-track earnings estimated at $10 million and Max Verstappen's at $4 million in Forbes' 2023 highest-paid athletes ranking.
Nevertheless, despite the absence of personal sponsors, F1 drivers are global superstars, increasingly so in the United States, where Netflix's documentary series Formula 1: Drive to Survive has attracted a passionate fan base. With this newfound interest and an influx of new sponsors, Forbes estimated in July that the top ten F1 teams would generate an average of $380 million in revenue this year, up from $220 million in 2018.
At the same time, a cost cap introduced in 2021 limits teams' spending in key areas to less than $140 million in 2023, aiming to create greater parity between powerhouses like Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull and smaller teams like Alfa Romeo, Haas, and Williams. Currently, driver salaries are excluded from the cost cap calculation, allowing team owners to continue spending freely.
"It's clear that this is a significant differentiator today, that the top teams can offer much higher salaries to drivers," said Toto Wolff, team principal of Mercedes, to Forbes at last month's United States Grand Prix. He mentioned that the idea of a salary cap had been discussed within the sport but any such change would need to be part of a new agreement, potentially for the 2026 season at the earliest, if ever.
In the meantime, the cost cap could also have indirect effects on driver earnings. If the budget rules apply more uniformly across the F1 grid, the balance could shift. "Once the cost cap starts to work even better than it does today, and I say it's already working well, the driver will have more impact again," said Guenther Steiner, team principal of Haas, to Forbes last month. "And it's obvious that the value of drivers will increase."
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