F1 News: Lando Norris wants Verstappen and Hamilton's £50m salary, this is why McLaren won't pay it

Verstappen, Hamilton and Norris in respective teamwear edited in front of burgundy, red and orange rectangles ona. black background — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Analysis

Lando Norris wants Verstappen and Hamilton money, this is why McLaren won't pay it

Norris has a new McLaren deal but it doesn't match Verstappen or Hamilton

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Tuesday 1 September 2026 12:27

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Just two days after penning a new McLaren deal, Lando Norris has already voiced dissatisfaction over his pay grade in F1.

The 26-year-old signed a new deal with the Woking team on Saturday, keeping him there until at least 2030 which would mark his 12th season at the team he started his F1 career with.

As per Norris's new deal, he is reported to be now earning £30million a year ($40million), probably a figure most of you dear readers or I wouldn't baulk at, but it's all relative folks.

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Norris is the F1 world champion but his new deal doesn't even begin to compare to Max Verstappen at Red Bull for instance, who has just signed a new £78m ($107m) per year deal with the team until 2030.

Neither does it compare to Lewis Hamilton, who is on £45m ($60m) per year at Ferrari but is in talks over extending that contract with a pay rise likely.

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Norris: I can match Lewis and Max

While Norris concedes he hasn't achieved as much as two of F1's biggest ever stars, he does feel he has the talent to match them on track and is therefore worthy of the same pay packet.

Lando Norris is the world champion but isn't the best paid driver

He told the Telegraph: “I mean, I feel I should earn as much as them, but it is certainly not close to the figures that I’ve been seeing online, sadly!”

“Of course, it is a bit more [than the last contract], as it is with any job when you kind of extend. But it’s certainly not close to the level of Lewis or Max. Which, in a way, it shouldn’t be, because I’ve not achieved as much as what they’ve achieved in their careers.

"But in another way, I believe it should be, because I believe I can fight against them whenever I need to, and I can do a better job whenever I need to. So yeah, I guess I have two opinions on it.

“I’m working on it. I don’t know when my next extension or renewal will be, but hopefully I can try and match [them] one day. But no, I dream of seeing those figures that I’ve seen online.”

Why McLaren won't pay Norris what he wants

Deep down, Norris probably realises why he isn't on the same money as Verstappen or Hamilton already, but it's not plainly obvious to everyone outside of F1. For starters, it's not because McLaren are being the Ebenezer Scrooge of F1 when it comes to paying their drivers.

It's not just about how fast a driver is or if they are world champion, there is a huge load of other factors deciding what a driver is worth and one of the biggest of them is commercial worth and status.

Let's start with Hamilton. F1's biggest superstar of the 21st century. He is a global name recognised and known not just by people who don't follow F1 but by people who don't follow sport at all.

With Kim Kardashian as his girlfriend, Lewis Hamilton is a huge global figure

If you don't recognise Hamilton you basically don't operate in the sphere of the western world. What's more, his girlfriend is Kim Kardashian - and this makes him even more familiar to an audience who have no time for F1.

He is up there with the biggest celebrities on the planet and that means more marketing opportunities for a team like Ferrari, who can pay him more and then earn at least some of that money back through merchandise sales and other incomes Hamilton can bring to the team.

Oh and he is still an extremely good F1 driver, (this bit does still matter).

Verstappen's reach is arguably not as great as he tends to shy away from the attention that Hamilton enjoys being in, but he also F1's best driver and a huge influence on younger viewers in the sport. He is also the man that ended Hamilton's F1 domination - bringing him further into mainstream culture.

The Dutchman's 'no-nonsense' approach also makes him charismatic as well as entertaining (traits shared by Hamilton too) and this makes him blockbuster viewing - and more 'ker-ching' sounds when it comes to the Red Bull merchandise tills.

Lando Norris has his own stand of dedicated fans at Silverstone but that's not enough

Norris's brand not big enough

Before you start saying Norris has his fans too, of course he does. The 'Lando Stand' at Silverstone is evidence of that, but he has a long way to go to match the huge marketing billboards Verstappen and Hamilton have already become.

Look at the biggest stories in F1 this season. They have been on Ferrari and Hamilton, Verstappen's saga at Red Bull and Fernando Alonso's future at Aston Martin with Adrian Newey. Norris just hasn't built up the interest yet to make him one of the main focuses.

There simply has not been as much attention on Norris' first year as world champion. He has only emerged from the shadows recently because he has superbly won back-to-back grands prix.

It's not for this article to say whether Norris can ever be worth the same as Hamilton or Verstappen, but it is to point out there is more to earning the top dollars in F1 than just being fast and being the world champion.

Quite simply, show pictures to random people in the street of Hamilton, Verstappen and Norris and ask them to name who they are. It is incredibly likely Hamilton will be more recognised than Verstappen who in turn is likely to be more recognised than Norris.

Certainly Hamilton over Norris, anyway. This is simply the basics of brand awareness and the start of marketing and why Norris still has some catching up to do to reach the very top pay packet.

Current F1 driver salaries - August 2026

The latest list of driver salaries - including those new deals for Norris, Verstappen and Carlos Sainz - looks like this:

Driver	Team	Base salary
Max Verstappen	Red Bull	$107m
Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	$60m
Lando Norris	McLaren	$40m
Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	$34m
George Russell	Mercedes	$34m
Carlos Sainz	Williams	$30m
Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	$20m
Alex Albon	Williams	$15m
Oscar Piastri	McLaren	$13m
Pierre Gasly	Alpine	$12m
Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	$12m
Sergio Perez	Cadillac	$8m
Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	$7m
Esteban Ocon	Haas	$7m
Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	$5m
Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	$5m
Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	$2m
Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	$2m
Ollie Bearman	Haas	$1m
Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	$1m
Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	<$1m
Franco Colapinto	Alpine	<$1m

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Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

F1 Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton McLaren Lando Norris