Revealed: The top 10 highest paid drivers on F1 2024 grid

The top 10 F1 driver salaries from the 2024 season have been reported in an annual list from prominent business magazine Forbes.

While salaries of drivers are seldom made public, it is known that performance clauses, win bonuses and much more are weaved into what makes up a driver’s final income for a season, on top of the basic pay they are able to negotiate.

F1 driver salaries: Reported highest-paid drivers on the 2024 grid

Forbes published their list of the 10 highest-paid drivers of the season along with the information that, by their calculations, pay across this top 10 on the grid went up by a reported 23% this year.

Personal sponsorship and endorsement income is excluded, with the business publication’s calculations coming “based on financial documents, legal filings and press reports, as well as conversations with industry insiders.”

F1 driver salaries do not make up part of the cost cap, remember – along with the three highest-paid staff members in a Formula 1 team, so the constructors are left free to pay the drivers whatever the going rate may be.

Some Formula 1 drivers remain among the highest-paid athletes in the world, and with a comparison to the reported 2023 figure from Forbes in brackets, let’s start the countdown.

10 – Pierre Gasly: $12million [up $4m]

Pierre Gasly saw a reported doubling of his base salary at Alpine from $5m to $10m in 2024, but that will have been supplemented in bonuses come the end of the season.

His season highlight came with a podium in the wet in Brazil, but two other high points finishes in the final three races helped Alpine secure P6 in the Constructors’ Championship.

9 – Carlos Sainz: $19m [up $5m]

Down two places on this list despite an increase in reported earnings, Carlos Sainz took in his last season with Ferrari before moving on to pastures new with Williams.

He earned two race victories and played a key part in the Scuderia taking second in the Constructors’ standings, with a reported $10m base salary almost doubled in bonus payments.

8 – Sergio Perez: $19.5m [down $6.5m]

Sergio Perez remains among Formula 1’s highest earners, with a reported $12m base salary, but bonuses will likely have dropped due to Red Bull not topping the Constructors’ Championship this time around, along with the Mexican driver not having earned a race win in 2024.

Both were the case in 2023, but his added value of commercial deals may not be enough to keep him at Red Bull in 2025, though that remains to be seen.

7 – Oscar Piastri: $22m [up $14m]

Oscar Piastri’s sophomore year in Formula 1 sees him not only firmly cement himself among the top 10 of reported earners in the sport, with $17m of his $22m coming from bonuses, but doing so as a Constructors’ champion as well.

These reported bonus payments will no doubt be formed as part of that achievement, alongside any agreement he has with McLaren over his first race victories, which he achieved in Hungary and Azerbaijan.

6 – George Russell: $23m [up $14m]

Raising his reported earnings by over 250% in 2024 is George Russell, whose contract with Mercedes saw him earn a healthy base pay rise to a reported $15m, up from a $4m base salary in 2023.

He will step up to be team leader alongside rookie driver Kimi Antonelli next season, who is likely to come in on a significantly smaller salary than the outgoing Lewis Hamilton, who is still yet to come.

5 – Charles Leclerc: $27m [up $8m]

With Ferrari running McLaren close to the Constructors’ title, a memorable home team victory at Monza and an extremely emotional home driver victory around the streets of Monaco, Charles Leclerc will not forget the 2024 season any time soon.

His Ferrari base salary of $15m was supplemented with a reported $12m in bonuses.

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4 – Fernando Alonso: $27.5m [down $6.5m]

Despite having a high base salary of $24m, according to this list, Fernando Alonso was unable to supplement his income in the same way as last season with Aston Martin’s drop-off in on-track competitiveness.

The double World Champion remains one of the sport’s highest earners with good reason, however, and holds out hope of adding more race wins and a third championship crown to his already superb achievements.

3 – Lando Norris: $35m [up $19m]

Lando Norris saw his base salary, according to Forbes, increase from $5m to $12m from 2023 to 2024 anyway, but with this season heralding his first race victories and a Constructors’ Championship to boot, he is reported to have brought in a huge $23m in bonuses.

Norris has risen up three places on this list compared to last season, and he will hope to see his World Championship chances improve with a strong start to 2025 on track.

2 – Lewis Hamilton: $57m [up $2m]

Lewis Hamilton was long Formula 1’s reported highest base earner, but lean years in terms of on-track success by his illustrious standards meant he was unable to add performance-related bonuses to his end-of-year earnings.

He stood back on top of podium twice in 2024, in an emotional home victory at Silverstone and once again at Spa-Francorchamps, supplementing a reported $55m base salary with $2m in bonuses.

1 – Max Verstappen: $75m [up $5m]

With a $60m base salary and $15m in bonuses, Max Verstappen stays on top of the reported earning list in Formula 1 for another season, after taking a fourth consecutive World Championship in the process.

He signed a mammoth seven-year contract extension with Red Bull after his first title in Abu Dhabi in 2021, which made him one of the highest-paid drivers in the sport in the process, with 2024 reportedly signalling a $15m base salary increase and drop in bonuses – though he remains on top regardless.

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