5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
Earnings: Salary $12m, Bonuses $11m, Total $23m
It's long been clear that Charles Leclerc is Ferrari's golden boy, the driver they are shaping the franchise's future around. His base salary if half as much again as that handed to his team mate Carlos Sainz; but even so, the $12m estimate is significantly less than that earned by Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel at lesser teams. Leclerc's brilliant start to the season (winning two of the first three races of the season) put him into an early lead of the drivers championship. Even though his campaign petered out as the season went on he still finished as runner-up in the championship and cleans up rather handsomely when it comes to bonuses.
4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing)
Earnings: Salary $10m, Bonuses $16m, Total $26m
There were many raised eyebrows when Red Bull signed the experienced Sergio Perez to partner Max Verstappen in 2021 rather than continue to seek new rookie talent from their young driver programme. But the odd spat about team orders aside, it's proved a very profitable and mutually beneficial arrangement for both team and driver. This year he claimed two wins (in Monaco and Singapore) and a pole (in Saudi Arabia), and while he narrowly missed out on the drivers vice-championship after finishing behind Charles Leclerc in Abu Dhabi, he's still cleaned up when it comes to bonuses this season thanks to a total of 11 podium appearances across the year.
3. Fernando Alonso (Alpine F1)
Earnings: Salary $30m, Bonuses $0m, Total $30m
Alpine might not be the biggest or best funded of teams on the grid, but they recognise the need for top quality talent in the cockpit - and Fernando Alonso is as good as it gets. That said, $30m is a lot of money for the 41-year-old, and it's possibly this that caused the mid-season rupture which resulted in Alonso deciding to pack his bags and head to Aston Martin in 2023. Chronic reliability problems with his car (and never team mate Esteban Ocon's) left him in P9 in the championship standings and with minimal bonus income, which is an unfair reflection on Alonso's assertive form on track - for as long as the A522 was working.
2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
Earnings: Salary $55m, Bonuses $0m, Total $55m
Last year, Lewis Hamilton pulled in a total of around $62m in track-related earnings, putting him well ahead of all his rivals. But that's all changed after losing his title at the end of 2021 to Max Verstappen, together with a troubled first half of this season with the temperamental W13 that saw him fail to capture pole or win a race for the first year in his F1 career since his debut in 2007. As a result, the estimated $7 million he earned in bonuses last year is no where to be found, although his ongoing $55m basic salary will no doubt cushion the financial blow. But given that his team mate George Russell finished ahead of him in this year's standings on a fraction of the salary, you have to ask: is Hamilton still worth it, or has the 37-year-old peaked and on the way down?
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
Earnings: Salary $40m, Bonuses $20m, Total $60m
Max Verstappen was runner-up in last year's pay league, but with the world championship comes the spoils of success. Last year, Forbes calculated that his base salary was $27m, but that went up when he beat Lewis Hamilton to the crown at the end of 2021 to a much healthier $40m. And this year's crushing success on the track - a record 15 wins by the time he took the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi - means he boosts that by a whopping $20m on bonuses as well. It's hard to begrudge him the financial success he's currently enjoying. Maybe it's no wonder that he's talking of retiring from the sport by the time he's 31? He'll certainly have a very healthy nest egg to work with if he does.
