F1 Driver Salaries: Lewis Hamilton has now entered the room

F1's driver pay scale has already experienced major change during this silly season, and Lewis Hamilton is about to provide another reset.

Last Thursday morning Max Verstappen became the highest-paid driver in the sport's history when he signed a landmark four-year contract extension with Red Bull.

The deal, which goes through to 2030, reportedly includes a base salary of $107million (per F1 insider Marc Limacher) and bonuses could see the total value over the term of the contract exceed $500million.

Verstappen's extension came just 24 hours after Spaniard Carlos Sainz had inked a multi-year deal with Williams worth €30million per season - a huge raise on his previous salary.

Now Hamilton is expected to be next to get paid, with widespread reports suggesting a contract extension with Ferrari will be announced before the team's home Italian Grand Prix at Monza (September 4-6).

Hamilton's current deal is worth a reported $60million a season, and on the back of that Verstappen contract you could easily argue he is now underpaid.

HAMILTON vs LECLERC: 'Squabbles, skirmishes and radio blackouts' as rivalry laid bare

Hamilton might be underpaid in the new F1 world

The seven-time world champion, it should not be forgotten, was responsible for adding $7billion to Ferrari's stock market value when the share price surged after his signing was announced.

Hamilton remains a commercial cash cow at the age of 41, a powerful marketing chip and a merchandising behemoth as well as still being capable of winning races on track. Having Kim Kardashian as a girlfriend does not exactly hurt that star power either.

The British great has enjoyed a real Maranello renaissance in 2026 after a miserable first year in Italy. He sits second in the championship standings behind Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli and claimed his first victory in red at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix in June.

Hamilton has emerged as arguably the team leader at Ferrari ahead of Charles Leclerc, driving the Scuderia to make much-needed changes to return to championship contention.

All signs point to his new deal being an increase on his current remuneration - the big question will be how close he gets to that Verstappen number.

Hamilton will not be the last deal we get in the coming weeks either - his fellow Brit and reigning world champion Lando Norris is reportedly in talks with McLaren over a package worth $70million per season.

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso is the other big name who could sign a new deal for 2027 - he is currently pondering whether to continue with Aston Martin or retire from the sport.

F1 Driver Salaries 2026

The latest driver salaries on August 27, 2026 look like this:

Do F1 driver salaries count against the sport's cost cap?

Important point here - driver salaries DO NOT count against the $215million cost cap every team operates under in 2026.

Driver salaries, plus the top three salaries in the team and some other areas sit outside the cap. This means teams can try to hire the best drivers without impacting their ability to develop a winning car.

This means teams are totally free to spend whatever they want on signing drivers without impacting the money they have to spend on car development.

The only pressure of course comes from their own financial performance. But with the sport booming commercially and the cap helping keep costs down, that is less of a concern than it ever has been.

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton to get much-needed F1 title boost as Ferrari turn up the power

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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