The 2024 Formula 1 season is nearly at the halfway mark following a close finish in the Spanish Grand Prix. Max Verstappen earned another win over Lando Norris with Lewis Hamilton rounding out the podium as he was in the top 20 highest-paid athletes list. Max is the highest-paid racer over the previous year.
How much does Max Verstappen make?
The Red Bull driver earned $81 million over the past 12 months, with $76 million coming from his lucrative contract with the team and the other $5 million from off-track activities, such as endorsement deals. His contract pays him $55 million in base salary for 2024, compared to his base salary in 2023 was $45 million and he made an additional $25 million in incentives after winning his third consecutive world championship.
How did his earnings get so high?
Max Verstappen capped off the most dominant season in Formula One history, setting the racing series records for most points and wins in a year. He’s no ordinary person, the triple world champion of Red Bull Racing arrived in the game as the youngest driver ever to have competed in the series, at 17.
He quickly made a name for himself and earned a call-up to the parent team after just four races of the 2016 season to replace the struggling Daniil Kvyat. His career has gone from strength to strength since and now Verstappen is regarded as one of the most well-rounded drivers ever to compete in F1. The 2022 season was just like a victory lap: Verstappen cruised to the drivers’ title by winning 15 races and lifted Red Bull to the constructors’ championship.
The second-highest-paid, Hamilton
While Lewis Hamilton was rounding out his first podium of the season, he announced a shock move to Ferrari next season prior to the first race of 2024 for what’s reported to be $100 million per year combined from salary, sponsorships, bonuses, and image rights. That’s a big jump from his current salary as one of the highest-paid drivers in Formula 1.
Apart from those two, no other motorsport driver was placed in the top 50 list of most-paid athletes.
