Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsOpinion

F1 drivers are overpaid - Marko

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko believes current F1 drivers are overpaid due to the advances in safety and performance in the sport.

Recent estimates had Sebastian Vettel earning over £30million per year as part of his Ferrari contract, with reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton receiving a similar amount from Mercedes. However, there was a big spread in salaries, with the lowest earners were all reported to be earning up to £250,000.

2016 F1 driver salaries

In a feature with Sport Bild regarding driver salaries, Marko says drivers and now paid too much as the risks involved in F1 have changed.

"Basically, the drivers of today are definitely overpaid," Marko said. "For two reasons: Firstly, there is only a small risk that serious accidents can result in injury or even be fatal.

"Secondly, young top talent like [Max] Verstappen or [Pascal] Wehrlein can take the modern car and straight away easily do 100 laps without tiring. Previously you had even a Vettel have to take breaks because he was not used to the high centrifugal forces. This means that the cars are easier to drive, the drivers must do less."

However, Niki Lauda believes the drivers' salaries must be looked at in the context of the sport's earnings as a whole.

"The drivers do not earn much," Lauda said. "One must not forget what the total amount is that Formula 1 generated last year. The drivers contribute greatly to this."

2016 F1 driver salaries

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.