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