Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motor racing and with a global audience of more than 831 million fans worldwide, it won't come as any surprise to learn that the sports top athletes tend to earn eye watering sums each year.
Despite teams now being forced to adhere to an annual spend of no more than $215 million, the three highest paid members of staff in the team are omitted from this budget cap. That has only served to increase F1 driver salaries with the top teams more than happy to dig into their cash reserves in order to secure the best talent. So how much do F1 drivers get paid in 2026 and who are the highest paid F1 drivers of all time? Find out in our latest blog.
Who are the Highest Paid F1 Drivers of 2026?
Max Verstappen has recently signed a new contract with Red Bull Racing that will see him remain at the team until at least 2030. It is estimated that his annual base salary is an eye watering $70 million and this is before bonuses and personal sponsorship deals are taken into account.
Next up is believed to be Lewis Hamilton who joined Ferrari at the start of 2025 on a contract lasting at least three years where the 7 times World Champion will be earning a base salary of $60 million. This was enough to bring Hamilton over from Mercedes having spent a decade driving for the silver arrows.
As the two most successful drivers in the sport, Hamilton and Verstappen are some way ahead of the rest of the field when it comes to salary with the next highest paid F1 drivers of 2026 believed to be Hamilton's Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc and Mercedes driver George Russell who are paid $34 million each with Lerlerc having recently signed an extension to his Ferrari deal that will see him remain with the Italian squad well into the 2030s.
It seems that it pays to be a champion in F1, with the next highest paid F1 driver of 2026 being 2025 champion Lando Norris. Norris also recently signed an extension to his contract with McLaren which will see him being paid at least $30 million per year until at least the end of 2030.
The only other champion on the grid is Fernando Alonso whose 2026 salary at Aston Martin is believed to be $20 million per season. This is someway below the $30 million per season he was paid at the height of his career when he drove for Ferrari between 2010 and 2014. However, Alonso's salary could be set to go as high as $40 million in 2027 based on recent rumours as the struggling Aston Martin team strive to secure the commitment of a champion to their team and there being very few options remaining now that the other top drivers have committed to their current teams for the foreseeable future. At the age of 45, this may well be Alonso's final contract and the Spaniard is keen to make the most of it having communicated reservations about committing to the team given their recent struggles which can mainly be attributed to the difficulties being faced by their new engine partner Honda.
Runaway championship leader Kimi Antonelli is believed to be on a base salary of just $2 million in 2026. This is likely to go as high as $12 million once bonuses are taken into account with the 20 year old having won 8 races at the time of writing despite having entered the 2026 season with a best finish of 2nd which was achieved just once at the 2025 Brazilian Grand Prix in what was his debut season. You can expect to see the Italian's salary increase substantially in the coming years if he can maintain his current trajectory.
Who is the Richest F1 Driver of all Time?
Despite their significant annual salaries, neither Hamilton or Verstappen is believed to be the richest F1 driver of all time. This honour goes to Michael Schumacher who is believed to have earned $790 million over his 19 season career, a sum which takes into account his annual salary and personal endorsements with the likes of German financial services company Deutsche Vermogensberatung, Nike and L'Oreal which netted the 7 times World Champion an additional $8-$12 million per year.
It is believed that Schumacher has earned almost double that of his fellow 7 times World Champion Lewis Hamilton who has an alleged net worth of $300 which puts him ahead of his long term rivals Alonso ($264 million) and Kimi Raikkonen ($254 million). All three of these drivers have competed in at least 19 F1 seasons, a total which would have been fanciful historically at a time when fatalities and serious injuries were far more likely than what they are today.
One of the drivers who had his career cut short by such an accident was Ayrton Senna. Senna lost his life while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. This was near the start of the Brazilian's 10th season in the sport, at which time he was believed to have accumulated over $100 million. Much of this came during the 1993 season when Senna played hardball with McLaren team-principal Ron Dennis by refusing the drive for the team unless he was paid $1 million per race in what was only a race by race deal rather than being a conventional one year contract.
Senna had grown tired of struggling to compete against the superior Williams team and played on the fact that only his supreme talent would be enough to secure the Woking based team victories. Winning 2 of the first 4 races of that season, including one of the greatest wet weather drives of all time at Donington Park, meant that Dennis had no choice but to give into the 3 time World Champions demands if he was to have any ambition of challenging for that years championship.
Surprising Riches
Senna was far from the first or last driver to hold a team to ransom, but at least he could arguably justify his high salary demands. There are a small number of F1 drivers who managed to make far more money from their involvement in the sport than their career statistics would suggest.
One of these drivers was Eddie Irvine who spent four seasons in the 1990s playing a supporting role to Michael Schumacher at Ferrari. While he did have a 2nd driver contract, Irvine rarely got close to Schumacher on raw pace. However, he did mount a surprise championship challenge for the team in 1999 after Schumacher broke his leg at the half way point of the season. Much of this owed to McLaren and Mika Hakkinen having an error prone season.
Nevertheless, this was enough to grab the attention of the new Jaguar team who agreed to pay the Ulsterman $18 million per year over the coming three seasons. During this time Irvine achieved a best finish of just 3rd for the hapless Ford owned team.
Another of the highest paid F1 drivers of all time is Ralf Schumacher. Michael's little brother won 6 races for Williams BMW in the early 2000s, earning a reputation for occasionally being supreme but more often than not lackluster. After a disappointing first 3 seasons in the sport, the big spending Toyota team decided that it needed a race winning lead driver if it was going to take its first victory. Upon hearing that there was an opportunity to sign Schumacher, Toyota leapt at the chance offering the German a $20 million per season deal over the coming three years. This was believed to be based on the assumption that it was Michael they were signing rather than Ralf, with the Toyota board members allegedly being oblivious to the fact that there were two Schumacher's in the sport at the time.
See The Modern Day Greats In Action
You can only really have an opinion on whether these F1 drivers justify their high annual salaries if you see them live and in person. Only then can you begin to grasp the supreme talents that these daredevils possess as they risk their lives every other weekend in the pursuit of the Formula 1 World Championship. Circuits such as Monaco and Singapore really showcase each driver's ability to the maximum, as they navigate their magnificent machines between the barriers of speeds of up to 225mph.
To give yourself the best chance to assess their skills, make sure you book an F1 holiday experience with Elegant Resorts. Our Luxury Travel Specialists will get you the best seats in the house so you take in the on-track spectacle and benefit from unrivalled hospitality as part of an F1 Paddock Club package that will get you access to the pitlane and invites to exclusive talks from some of the sports biggest names.