Fernando Alonso is still the highest-paid driver in F1
The 2011 ranking of the highest-paid F1 drivers has not brought any major upheavals. It is still dominated by Fernando Alonso, who stands out with 30 million euros per season.
Far behind, we can find the two McLaren drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, as well as Alonso’s teammate at Ferrari, Felipe Massa. However, they only earn “just” 10 million euros per season.
Sebastian Vettel received a substantial salary increase thanks to his world champion title, as he went from 2 million euros to four times that amount, to earn eight million euros. There is equal treatment at Red Bull since Mark Webber has the same salary. The situation is the same at Mercedes GP where both drivers, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, have retained the same salary as last year.
Behind these top four teams, the standings present a certain surprise as it involves Team Lotus drivers Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen, who receive three million euros to fight for the position of the top team among the new entries. Similarly, Timo Glock receives as much (two million euros) as Sebastian Vettel last year and Nick Heidfeld this season.
When the leaders of Williams boasted in their recently published accounts that they had managed to significantly reduce their payroll, this was particularly true for the drivers. Thus, Rubens Barrichello’s salary decreased from 5.5 million euros to 2.2 million this season. While Nico Hülkenberg had received 700,000 euros, his replacement, Pastor Maldonado, has to settle for 200,000 euros.
As for the other rookies of the season, their entry into F1 did not translate into a golden bridge from the teams, as the highest-paid among them, Narain Karthikeyan at HRT, receives $250,000, which is $50,000 more than other beginners such as Paul di Resta (Force India), Sergio Pérez (Sauber), Vitantonio Liuzzi (HRT), and Jérôme d’Ambrosio (Virgin).
In millions of euros:
| 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | ||
| 1. | Fernando Alonso | 30 | 30 | 15 |
| 2. | Lewis Hamilton | 10 | 16 | 18 |
| Jenson Button | 10 | 9 | 5 | |
| Felipe Massa | 10 | 14 | 8 | |
| 5. | Sebastian Vettel | 8 | 2 | 6 |
| Mark Webber | 8 | 4,2 | 5,5 | |
| Michael Schumacher | 8 | 8 | absent | |
| Nico Rosberg | 8 | 8 | 8,5 | |
| 9. | Jarno Trulli | 3 | 3 | 6,5 |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 3 | 3 | 3,5 | |
| 11. | Rubens Barrichello | 2,2 | 5,5 | 1 |
| 12. | Timo Glock | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Nick Heidfeld | 2 | Non disponible | 2,8 | |
| 14. | Adrian Sutil | 1 | 0,2 | Driver payant |
| Kamui Kobayashi | 1 | 0,5 | absent | |
| 16. | Vitaly Petrov | 0,5 | 0,4 | absent |
| 17. | Sebastien Buemi | 0,4 | 0,4 | 1,5 |
| Jaime Alguersuari | 0,4 | 0,4 | 0,5 | |
| 19. | Narain Karthikeyan | 0,25 | absent | absent |
| 20. | Pastor Maldonado | 0,2 | absent | absent |
| Paul di Resta | 0,2 | absent | absent | |
| Sergio Perez | 0,2 | absent | absent | |
| Vitantonio Liuzzi | 0,2 | 0,2 | absent | |
| Jérôme d’Ambrosio | 0,2 | absent | absent |
With the participation of RacingBusiness.fr
