Forbes Magazine published the (astronomical) values that the drivers with the highest salaries in the premier category of motorsport earn annually.
The renowned specialized in business and finance, released, this Wednesday, the annual salaries, with bonuses included, of the 10 highest paid pilots in the .
An elite sport that sees this status in line with the values earned by the pilots, the main protagonists of a sport that continues to accumulate fans with each new season.
1st – Max Verstappen: 71.5 million euros
Unsurprisingly, in pole position is the Max Verstappen. In a year when the title seemed to be slipping through your fingerswith Red Bull finding it difficult to see the car progress and, at the same time, measuring forces with an increasingly dominant McLaren, the Dutch driver showed why he is one of the best ever.
2nd – Lewis Hamilton: 54 million euros
The year 2024 will inevitably be one of the most memorable in the career of the seven-time world champion. Not only because he won a Grand Prix again three seasons later or because he fulfilled a “childhood dream” by signing with Ferrari, but mainly because : six driver’s titles and eight constructors’ titles. In 2025, the leadership of this ranking should belong to him since, according to the Italian press, will earn around 100 million a year at the Scuderia.
3rd – Lando Norris: 33.5 million euros
Already most challenging season of career from the British driver, the possibility of dethroning Max Verstappen and celebrating an unprecedented title win became a reality in the middle of the season. Performance on the track was insufficient to surpass the Dutchman, partly due to the very strong start to the season by Red Bull and Verstappen. Next year, he could start from ‘pole’ in the fight for the Drivers’ World Championship. On a collective level, it celebrated the 26 years later.
4th – Fernando Alonso: 26 million euros
The man who defies the passage of time. At 43 years old, he is an unmissable name, not only in Formula 1, but in motorsport. He has a contract with Aston Martin until 2026, the year in which the British team’s car will be signed by the . After the 2005 and 2006 titles, will be the tri an unrealistic scenario?
5th – Charles Leclerc: 25.5 million euros
In the middle of the classification the first Ferrari driver appears. At 27, the Monegasque has lived longer a season of ups and downs that ended brilliantly: at the Abu Dhabi GP, the last race of the season, he started 19th and achieved a place on the podium (3rd), a feat that had not happened in Formula 1 for 17 years.
6th – George Russell: 22 million euros
At 26 years old, the British pilot prepares to lead the German team on the track in 2025with the entry of the young rookie Kimi Antonelli (18 years old) replacing Hamilton. In a positive time, when the Mercedes car has almost always been far from being the most competitiveRussell won two races and was sixth in the World Championship, ahead of the future Ferrari driver.
7th – Oscar Piastri: R$ 21 million
After an auspicious debut season in 2023, the Australian driver has upped the ante. Debuted by winning a Grand Prix in Hungaryrepeated the feat in Azerbaijan and capitalized on the power of the MCL38 on the track. After winning, in his debut years, the Formula 3 and Formula 2 World Championships, next year he will want to enter the fight for hegemony in Formula 1.
8th – Sergio Pérez: 18.5 million euros
The 2023 runner-up was unrecognizable this season. He ended the season without victories (the only driver from the “big four” – McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes – who was ‘blank’) and mortgaged any aspirations of the Austrian team for a new constructors’ titlewith several performances outside the points. He renewed for two years with Red Bull in June and, despite poor performances in 2024, he could anddemand a to cross the (apparently wide-open) exit door.
9th – Carlos Sainz: 18 million euros
Already Ferrari’s farewell season – Sainz’s best at the wheel of the Prancing Horse – the Spanish driver, who will head to Williams in 2025, was fifth in the World Championship and decisive for the second place achieved by the Scuderia in the Constructors’ World Championship. Next year, he should be out of the top spots on the grid and out of the fight for victories.
10th – Pierre Gasly: 11.5 million euros
The only one to appear in the top 10 without holding the status of world champion or “big four” driver is Frenchman Pierre Gasly, from Alpine. And he proved, in 2024, to be worthy of the financial retribution that the Enstone team grants him: in addition to having scored 42 points (almost twice as many as teammate Esteban Ocon)), fundamental to the sixth place achieved by the French team in the Constructors’ World Championship, made history by costing Alpine a total of…zero euros in 2024as it did not cause any damage to the car during the 24 races of the season. Never had a Formula 1 driver achieved such a feat.
