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[Fred_C_Dobbs]

This is guaranteed to start a flame war

F1 2010 driver salaries revealed – who earns most?

An up-to-date list of F1 driver salaries has been published, revealing just who is being paid what this season - and what kind of performance return they are giving for their remuneration...

The annual list of F1 salaries has again been published, with two world champions topping the list and a driver who is not even competing on the grand prix grid this year – coming in at third place.

The report – published by Spanish newspaper El Mundo and citing information compiled by Business Book GP – revealed that Ferrari star Fernando Alonso is on a retainer of some €30 million, supplemented by his external endorsements.

That is almost twice the salary that the Oviedo native's former team-mate and sworn rival currently Lewis Hamilton earns at McLaren-Mercedes, whose €16 million pay packet is virtually the same as what World Rally Championship convert Kimi Raikkonen is receiving as the Finn continues to benefit handsomely indeed from his early Ferrari pay-off.

Next up is Felipe Massa on €14 million – notably, less than half of what team-mate Alonso is on – with defending F1 World Champion Jenson Button fifth on €9 million, just ahead of Mercedes Grand Prix's Michael Schumacher, whose €8 million remuneration is arguably generous indeed for the comparatively poor on-track return that the German legend has provided on his desperately disappointing comeback to active competition thus far this year.

In a laudable policy of equality, however, Schumacher's team-mate Nico Rosberg is on exactly the same retainer with Renault F1's Robert Kubica – in many observers' eyes, the star of the season to-date – on €7.5 million.

A significant surprise if the findings are accurate, is that both Williams' ultra-experienced veteran Rubens Barrichello is on more money at €5.5 million than either current world championship leader Mark Webber or Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull Racing, with the Australian perhaps similarly unexpectedly receiving more than the German with €4.2 million to €2 million – though both are understood to be on substantial bonus agreements for every victory notched up.

Lotus Racing's Jarno Trulli also outpoints Vettel in the basic salary stakes on €3 million, with team-mate Heikki Kovalainen on a basic retainer of around €2 million, Timo Glock for fellow F1 2010 newcomer Virgin Racing on €1 million and Williams rookie Nico Hülkenberg on €700,000.

Bringing up the rear of the list are Sauber duo Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi on €500,000 apiece, Renault's Vitaly Petrov and Scuderia Toro Rosso pairing Jaime Alguersuari and Sébastien Buemi on €400,000 each and Force India's Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi and Virgin new boy Lucas di Grassi all on €200,000. The final 'paid' driver, Hispania Racing's Bruno Senna, is on just €150,000 – or, to put it into perspective, roughly 200 times less than Alonso.

The figures make Ferrari comfortably the highest spender of the year in terms of driver expense, with (€60 million) or without (€44 million) Raikkonen taken into consideration, as the full list below shows. The ranking on the far right is current championship position.

Drivers:

1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari €30m 5th
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes €16m 2nd
3. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari €16m N/A
4. Felipe Massa Ferrari €14m 6th
5. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes €9m 4th
6. Michael Schumacher Mercedes Grand Prix €8m 9th
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes Grand Prix €8m 7th
8. Robert Kubica Renault F1 €7.5m 8th
9. Rubens Barrichello Williams F1 €5.5m 11th
10. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing €4.2m 1st
11. Jarno Trulli Lotus Racing €3m 19th=
12. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing €2m 3rd
13. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus Racing €2m 19th=
14. Timo Glock Virgin Racing €1m 19th=
15. Nico Hülkenberg Williams F1 €700,000 15th
16. Pedro de la Rosa Sauber €500,000 17th
17. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber €500,000 12th=
18. Vitaly Petrov Renault F1 €400,000 12th=
19. Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso €400,000 18th
20. Sébastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso €400,000 16th
21. Adrian Sutil Force India F1 €200,000 10th
22. Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India F1 €200,000 14th
23. Lucas Di Grassi Virgin Racing €200,000 19th=
24. Bruno Senna Hispania Racing €150,000 19th=
25. Karun Chandhok Hispania Racing €Nil 19th=
26. Sakon Yamamoto Hispania Racing €Nil 19th =

Teams:

1. Ferrari €60m 3rd
2. McLaren-Mercedes €25m 2nd
3. Mercedes Grand Prix €16m 4th
4. Renault F1 €7.9m 5th
5. Red Bull Racing €6.2m 1st
6. Williams F1 €6.2m 7th
7. Lotus Racing €5m 10th=
8. Virgin Racing €1.2m 10th=
9. Sauber €1m 8th
10. Scuderia Toro Rosso €800,000 9th
11. Force India F1 €400,000 6th
12. Hispania Racing €150,000 10th=

To compare to the 2009 salaries, click here

[myownalias]

Couple of things I find surprising there:

• HRT actually paying Bruno Senna when Chandhock and Yamamoto are pay drivers...
• Mark Webber being paid double Sebastian Vettel.
• Jarno Trulli making more from Lotus than Vettel does from Red Bull.

Kimi Raikkonen is not even driving in F1 and he still has made it to #3, Ice Cream Man certainly had his head screwed on!

[vaptin]

If Alonso's salary is going to compared to Massa for a second driver statement, I'm bringing up Hamilton and Button. I see Vettel and Webber has already been taken though, so won't intrude.

Alright people, pick a side and put on your goggles. This ones gonna be big.

Gotta say, never found crashnet too accurate though.

[MattMK45]

Ha Ha! Ice cream man

[The Immortal Dragon]

Massa does get way too much money for what he achieves or achieved.
And Alonso just gets too much, regardless of what he will achieve!

[Rivers]

Kimi really got things right. Its been going well for him (financially) so good for him.
I guess he made the right choices. Got money from Ferrari for ending contract, got mone yfor not racing in F1 in 2010 and now drives in WRC that he enjoys a lot more than F1. And Ferrari got their beloved Alonso onboard to create a 1st and 2nd driver team. Win win win...

Well what HRT pays Senna looks more like a pocket-money when we see the other figures. And still its Senna who brings sponsor money in; Senna had a contract vene before HRT with Campos, so maybe thats how Bruno got some cash for ice-creams

Petrov...he also brought in a significant amount of money in Renault and gets some cash to buy a few ice-creams down the road, so its as it is.

Now Alonso the leader of list, we`ll see if it does him any good.

And Schumacher gets paid same as Rosberg, Mercedes in the end see mto waste their money;
Red Bull drivers are really drivign for free comapred to the other leaders of champ, but thats ok.

Well no really big surprises at the end...

[f1ea]

Massa does get way too much money for what he achieves or achieved.
And Alonso just gets too much, regardless of what he will achieve!

Bringing Santander along is not enough? Alonso is almost a pay driver

And there was someone "feeling bad" for Massa !!??

Interesting to see both Merc guys on even pay and Vettel waaaay down low... so much for the team favouring Webber!

[What's Burning?]

I have to say that this really doesn't surprise me much, the super starts of most money sports get a disproportionate amount of pay as compared to rookies and people playing for less financially robust teams. Ferrari will probably always pay their drivers more simply because it establishes exactly what they want from a driver total commitment and total dedication and they have money to burn when someone decides they're not getting that from a driver in order to bring in another driver.

You get paid based on a few things, one is your last year's performance, and two is when you got to renegotiate your contract and who is doing the renegotiation. When Vettle's contract is up, I'm sure his price will change drastically. Likewise for Lewis.

Teams sign drivers not only for their driving skills but also for the PR machine and certain drivers deliver much more than other in and out of the cockpit.

[scotty]

This, of course, does not account for sponsorship deals and stuff that supplement this 'basic' pay. I heard Hamilton signed a new contract in 2008 that earns him £120m over 5 years, including all those deals.

[Hammer278]

I'm guessing Ferraris ROI this year is down in the dumps, as their 30mill pay packet has only resulted in numerous error strewn races and lots of whining to contend with. Unless a large chunk of the 30mill is from Santander.

[NocturnalTendencies]

Vettel needs to do some serious negotiating next season.

[Jabberwocky]

Didn't someone say before that Red Bull pay a small retainer but massive bonus per point?

[Juliet P]

To me, the Hamilton-Button disparity makes sense. Button was in a bit of a pickle at the end of last year - it seemed that Ross Brawn held all the cards. Mclaren had no incentive to offer Button much more than Brawn was offering. And certainly not as much as their established driver, Hamilton, who is closely associated with their brand and their sponsors...

[racechick]

30mil Thats a huge amount. I bet Ferrari were pooing themselves when he made all those mistakes and massa was leading the championship

[vaptin]

30mil Thats a huge amount. I bet Ferrari were pooing themselves when he made all those mistakes and massa was leading the championship

Probably not, the financials from Satander (sp) would've made the finical cost to Ferrari pretty reasonable for a two times champion in real terms.

Don't think Ferrari would've had anything at all against Massa leading the championship.