Revealed: What the F1 drivers earn

Eurosport - Thu, 29 Oct 10:31:00 2009

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen has been named Formula One's biggest earner, pocketing nearly three times as much as the next best-paid driver.

Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 2009 - 0

The Finn's 2009 salary is £27.35 million, according to a list published by Arabian Business magazine, dwarfing the £10.9m paid to outgoing world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Another former world champion, Renault's Fernando Alonso took home £9.1m, with Williams' Nico Rosberg surprisingly fourth ahead of Raikkonen team-mate Felipe Massa.

Raikkonen leaves Ferrari at the end of the season, when Alonso replaces him, and his massive pay demands explain his difficulty securing a drive for 2010, with McLaren and Toyota interested in his services.

Newly crowned world champion Jenson Button earned 'just' £3.05m after taking a 50 per cent pay cut to drive for Brawn in 2009.

The Briton is in negotiations over a new deal with Brawn, and has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave if the team cannot restore his salary to its 2008 level.

Four drivers went unpaid - Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Romain Grosjean (Renault) and Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi (both Force India F1) - went unpaid.

Total salaries for F1 drivers totalled £81.9m, an average of £3.9m per driver.

List compiler Tom Rubython said: "There may be a global recession going on but being an F1 driver means you earned a fortune this year. These figures are just basic salaries, and don't include sponsorship and other income, which can often be three times that amount."

Full list of F1 2009 driver salaries:

1. Kimi Raikkonen £27.35m

2. Lewis Hamilton £10.9m

3. Fernando Alonso £9.1m

4. Nico Rosberg £5.15m

5. Felipe Massa £4.85m

6. Jarno Trulli £3.95m

7. Sebastian Vettel £3.65m

8. Mark Webber £3.35m

9. Jenson Button £3.05m

10. Robert Kubica £2.75m

11. Heikki Kovalainen £2.1m

12. Nick Heidfeld £1.7m

13. Timo Glock £1.2m

14. Giancarlo Fisichella £0.9m

15. Sébastien Buemi £0.9m

16. Rubens Barrichello £600,000

17. Jaime Alguersuari £300,000

18. Vitantonio Liuzzi £0

19. Adrian Sutil £0

20. Romain Grosjean £0

21. Kazuki Nakajima £0

What the F1 teams spent on drivers in 2009:

1. Ferrari £32.2m

2. McLaren-Mercedes £13.05m

3. Renault £9.1m

4. Red Bull Racing £7m

5=. Toyota £5.15m

5=. Williams £5.15m

7. BMW-Sauber £4.45m

8. Brawn GP £3.65m

9. Scuderia Toro Rosso £1.2m

10. Force India £900,000

Crash.net / Eurosport

Comment 148 - 167 of 167

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  1. ya'll KR haterz shud stop hatin n start­ participatin.hes the best driver in the paddock shud­ be 35m basic

    From smurunga69, on Fri 30 Oct 7:40PM

  2. WATCH ALL MOTOR-SPORT, ON INTERNET: F1, GP2 SERIES, ­ MOTOGP, 250, 125, NASCAR, RALLY, SUPERBIKE AND MUCH­ MORE: :RACES, FREE PRACTICE AND QUALIFY

    From WWW.PREMIERSHIP.ALTERVISTA.ORG, on Fri 30 Oct 6:57PM

  3. You can't pay them simply for results, it's not­ the driver's fault if their car's not as good­ this year [like ferrari]. Kimi's still the best­ driver, so if ferarri are willing to pay, what's­ wrong with that. Comparing football teams, there are 17­ drivers earning, compared to how many hundreds­ footballers earning ridiculous fees, some of whom just­ sit on the bench. Also don't forget that every race­ there's a chance they'll get killed or­ permanently injured, not something to be taken lightly,­ despite the luckily long time since the last fatalities­ (Ratzenberger & Senna).
    As for the drivers doing it­ for free, I'd gladly drive an F1 season without­ getting paid, the reward of competing at the highest­ level is enough for drivers who aren't in much­ demand.
    I'm more worried about MPs lining their­ pockets with taxpayers ___ing money.

    From E, on Fri 30 Oct 2:09PM

  4. Reading all the comments and it looks like we are all a­ bit pig sick as these guys recieve more in a season­ than most of us in a lifetime, but it is a dangerous­ sport, here one minuite and gone the next, wonder how­ much Ayrton Senna was paid ?, probably not even close­ to Kimi, and what a driver Ayrton was, without a shadow­ of a doubt, the best there ever has been.

    From Andrew, on Fri 30 Oct 11:32AM

  5. Guess these guys live on a different planet to the cash­ straped one we live on.

    I think some of them, KR­ doesnt have adrive for next year as £27mill is too rich­ for Ferrari, need to re think there value or we will­ seem some realy quick taxi drivers next year.

    From John T, on Fri 30 Oct 11:22AM
  6. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    It's absolutely disgusting, the football players­ are just as bad. There should be a salary range, say 1­ mil the bottom 3 mil the midle and 5 mil the top, then­ they should receive a bonus according to the result at­ the end of each race and a final bonus at the end of­ the championship again according to their final­ placing. Kimi should leave F1, there is nothing else he­ can give the sport, and dedicate himself to Rally­ racing. Shame Ferrari are not cultivating their own­ drivers, it about time they found themselves a good­ young italian driver. Alonso will be a waste of time he­ is not tough enough to drive a Ferrari.

    From mmo_uk, on Fri 30 Oct 11:12AM

  7. I too am interested in the "unpaid" bit... so­ they get less than someone on benefits? Drive for free?­ Surely not? Can anyone shed light on that one? Not­ important I suppose, but most odd.

    From f1fiasco, on Fri 30 Oct 11:10AM

  8. What a shame for Adrian Sutil, have the FIA not heard­ of the minimum wage

    From Andrew, on Fri 30 Oct 11:08AM

  9. This is only the small part of their earning.
    The­ driver still get money from advertising!
    That why some­ drivers are ok to drive without pay!

    All you need todo­ is to look at is how much Tag Heuer spends each year on­ advertising then you will know!

    From RICKY, on Fri 30 Oct 10:55AM

  10. Baricello £600k

    Raikkonen £27.35m

    BRITISH WORLD­ CHAMPION - PRICELESS !

    From rolandmalkin, on Fri 30 Oct 10:51AM

  11. How come some of the drivers didn't even get paid??

    From Samantha, on Fri 30 Oct 10:49AM

  12. I agree with "Barecello, £600,000­ bargin........... Kimi Raikkonen,­ £27,350.000­ ripoff..........." and it shows as Raikkonen, win,­ lose or draw he was getting paid anyway, ridiculous!!­ Poor Rubens he deserves more, one of the few sporting­ gentlemen left.

    From Rodney, on Fri 30 Oct 10:46AM

  13. iv watched f1 for 10 yrs but im slowly going off it why­ is f1 turnin in to a political battle there is more­ money than sense

    From Craig, on Fri 30 Oct 10:46AM

  14. Maybe in the closed season before testing begins­ Raikkonen will buy himself a personality transplant to­ improve his image to joe public who indirectly fund is­ salary.

    As for Button let him sign for Mclaren and get­ paul Di Rista a seat along side Barrichello

    From snakehuts, on Fri 30 Oct 10:45AM

  15. Presumably the ones who didn't get paid actually­ paid for their drives?

    From nat6059, on Fri 30 Oct 10:43AM

  16. All i can say is Raikonen must be bending over!

    From bobajob, on Fri 30 Oct 10:41AM

  17. Very nice work if you can get it.....my CV is already­ at Brawn !

    From GSter, on Fri 30 Oct 10:36AM

  18. Clearly Ferarri have no funds left anymore for­ developement KR has milked em dry!!!!!!!!!!!

    From inrange, on Fri 30 Oct 10:34AM
  19. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    that's because he's nine times better than­ button.

    From Lliam, on Fri 30 Oct 10:31AM

  20. Why would we want to know about who is the most rich or­ the most famous. We are sat here reading this in­ disbelief! I earn just under £200 a week! And you­ don't see me complaining to the media! What a joke!

    From rob1craven, on Fri 30 Oct 10:30AM
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