F1 Driver Salaries 2025: What the stars earn as Lewis Hamilton makes Ferrari debut

Lewis Hamilton smiles in a Ferrari uniform with a background of bank notes — Photo: © LAT Images

F1 Driver Salaries

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F1 Driver Salaries: What the stars earn as Hamilton makes Ferrari debut

Formula 1 driver salaries are often a mystery, but we try to break down what the likes of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari are spending

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Saturday 25 February 2023 07:01 Updated: 12:34

F1 is now in the budget cap era, which means money to develop cars is tighter, but that won't impact driver salaries in 2025, just as it hasn't for the last few seasons.

The contracts that teams offer their drivers are an exemption from the cap, meaning those at the front of the grid will remain some of the highest-paid sports stars around.

Lewis Hamilton has made a stunning move to Ferrari for 2025, but just how much will he and his rivals earn in the 2025 season? Let's take a look.

How much do F1 drivers earn?

Salaries for F1 drivers are notoriously difficult to pin down; there can be a range of external elements such as contract upgrades, bonuses, and sponsorships, which makes it hard to identify just how much each driver earns.

In 2022, Max Verstappen penned one of the most lucrative deals for a driver in F1 history and was financially rubbing shoulders with rival Lewis Hamilton. In 2023 and 2024, Verstappen earned even more than Hamilton due to performance-based bonuses, but the two biggest stars still remained the sport's highest earners.

Hamilton's latest Ferrari contract will bring him closer to his arch rival, and you'd imagine that if he manages to claim an unprecedented eighth world title with the team, then his bonuses will be through the roof.

Verstappen's 2024 championship challenger Lando Norris is on a lucrative deal with McLaren, although his age and (until last year) lack of race-winning pedigree means he is a way behind Verstappen and Hamilton.

Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri recently signed a new contract with McLaren ahead of the 2025 season, and has reportedly been given a mammoth payrise.

Here are the base salaries of F1 drivers, as reported by NBC and other sources, excluding any performance-based bonuses.

Driver	Team	Base salary
Max Verstappen	Red Bull	$65m
Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	$60m
Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	$34m
Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	$20m
Lando Norris	McLaren	$20m
Oscar Piastri	McLaren	$20m
George Russell	Mercedes	$15m
Carlos Sainz	Williams	$10m
Pierre Gasly	Alpine	$10m
Alex Albon	Williams	$8m
Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber	$7m
Esteban Ocon	Haas	$7m
Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	$3m
Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	$2m
Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	$2m
Gabriel Bortoleto	Sauber	$2m
Ollie Bearman	Haas	$1m
Liam Lawson	Red Bull	$1m
Jack Doohan	Alpine	<$1m
Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls	<$1m

Does the F1 budget cap affect driver salaries?

As mentioned, driver salaries are kept separate from the budget cap. Indeed the salaries of the three highest-paid employees are exempt, which in virtually all cases will include the team principals as well.

Other items which are kept exempt include marketing costs and utility bills incurred by the teams.

Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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