Lewis Hamilton net worth: Where does he rank amongst the world’s 50 highest-paid athletes?

Jamie Woodhouse
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton arrives at the track ahead of media day in Saudi Arabia.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton arrives at the track.

Lewis Hamilton’s record-breaking success in Formula 1 has certainly brought major financial rewards, placing him among the world’s highest-earning sporting stars.

Hamilton experienced World Championship success very early in his Formula 1 career, clinching the 2008 crown in only his second campaign in the series with McLaren.

It was his move to Mercedes for 2013 though which truly set Hamilton up for stardom, the Brit claiming six World Championship crowns between 2014-2020, putting him level with Michael Schumacher at the very pinnacle of the F1 mountain as a seven-time champ.

In the process, he also set new standards by breaking records for most race wins, podiums and pole positions among others.

Throughout all of this then Hamilton has grown to become one of the most recognisable Formula 1 figures of all time, the exposure which his name brings drawing in a host of sponsors, which combined with his Mercedes earnings, makes for quite the pay packet.

To put some numbers to his name, Forbes in their 2022 ranking state that Hamilton brought home a final cheque of $65 million, the kind of figure which could set a bunch of us mere mortals up for life if it was shared between us.

In the sporting world though, while that ranks Hamilton, with an estimated overall net worth of $285m, comfortably among the top 50 highest-paid athletes, he is actually some way off cracking the top 10.

If Hamilton were to enter that extremely exclusive club, then his current target would be basketball star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who currently holds the number 10 spot with 2022 earnings of $80.9m as per Forbes.

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The very top of their list though is going to take some serious reaching, with football/soccer legend Lionel Messi holding top spot with a staggering pay packet of $130m.

Only basketball icon LeBron James and Messi’s fellow football/soccer megastar Cristiano Ronaldo can also claim to have taken home north of $100m for 2022.

Nonetheless, Hamilton does at least comfortably lead the way for earnings in the world of motor racing, though he is not the only representative from Formula 1 on that top 50 list.

Creeping up on him is the reigning two-time World Champion, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who ranks No.26 on the list with earnings of $48m.

With Verstappen seemingly homing in fast on World title number three, the Dutchman’s stock and income is only set to grow further still, though while he has usurped Hamilton on the track as it stands, he is going to take quite some beating in the earnings category.

Forbes Top 50 list in full:

1 Cristiano Ronaldo $136M Soccer
2 Lionel Messi $130M Soccer
3 Kylian Mbappe $120M Soccer
4 LeBron James $119.5M Basketball
5 Canelo Alvarez $110M Boxing
6 Dustin Johnson $107M Golf
7 Phil Mickelson $106M Golf
8 Stephen Curry $100.4M Basketball
9 Roger Federer $95.1M Tennis
10 Kevin Durant $89.1M Basketball
11 Giannis Antetokounmpo $87.6M Basketball
12 = Neymar $85M Soccer
12 = Russell Wilson $85M Football
14 Russell Westbrook $82.1M Basketball
15 Rory McIlroy $80.8M Golf
16 Tiger Woods $75.1M Golf
17 Cameron Smith $73M Golf
18 Brooks Koepka $72M Golf
19 Kyler Murray $70.5M Football
20 Bryson DeChambeau $69M Golf
21 Lewis Hamilton $65M Formula 1
22 Max Verstappen $64M Formula 1
23 Klay Thompson $60.9M Basketball
24 Patrick Mahomes $59.3M Football
25 Damian Lillard $58.6M Basketball
26 Max Scherzer $56.7M Baseball
27James Harden $55.1M Basketball
28 =Anthony Joshua $53M Boxing
28 =Jon Rahm $53M Golf
28 = Aaron Rodgers $53M Football
28 = Mohamed Salah $53M Soccer
32 = Erling Haaland $52M Soccer
32 = Patrick Reed $52M Golf
34 Paul George $51.5M Basketball
35 Kawhi Leonard $50.5M Basketball
36 Bradley Beal $49.8M Basketball
37 Derek Carr $48.9M Football
38 Orlando Brown, Jr. $48.6M Football
39 Aaron Donald $48.5M Football
40 Anthony Davis $48M Basketball
41 = Jimmy Butler $47.8M Basketball
41 = John Wall $47.8M Basketball
43 Jordan Spieth $47.5M Golf
44 Luka Doncic $47.2M Basketball
45 Scottie Scheffler $47.1M Golf
46 = Sergio Garcia $46M Golf
46 = Dak Prescott $46M Football
48 Deshaun Watson $45.8M Football
49 Serena Williams $45.3M Tennis
50 Tom Brady $45.2M Football

Read more: Lewis Hamilton car collection: Take a closer look at his incredible private garage