In 2026 the highest-paid Formula 1 driver is Max Verstappen, on about $70 million in base salary, followed by Lewis Hamilton ($60 million) and by Charles Leclerc and George Russell ($34 million each). At the bottom of the grid salaries run from $0.5 million to $2 million, like that of Kimi Antonelli, who led the championship in September. These are RacingNews365 estimates that exclude bonuses and personal sponsors; drivers do not receive a share of the prize pot, which goes to the teams.

Updated October 2026.

In September 2026 the driver leading the Formula 1 championship, Kimi Antonelli, had one of the lowest contracts in the paddock: about $2 million in base salary, against Max Verstappen’s $70 million. And Lando Norris, 2025 world champion, has $30 million, less than half.

A driver’s salary, in other words, does not measure what he is worth on track or what he is worth off it. This guide lines up the 2026 figures, with sources, explains what a driver’s income is made of, what it is not (the prize pot) and why the numbers should be read with caution.

Photo: Pascal Richier, Unsplash.

How much F1 drivers make in 2026

Annual base salary in 2026, in millions of dollars, according to RacingNews365 (4 February 2026):

• Max Verstappen, Red Bull: 70
• Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari: 60
• Charles Leclerc, Ferrari: 34
• George Russell, Mercedes: 34
• Lando Norris, McLaren: 30
• Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin: 20
• Carlos Sainz, Williams: 13
• Oscar Piastri, McLaren: 13
• Pierre Gasly, Alpine: 12
• Alex Albon, Williams: 12
• Lance Stroll, Aston Martin: 12
• Sergio Pérez, Cadillac: 8
• Nico Hülkenberg, Audi: 7
• Esteban Ocon, Haas: 7
• Isack Hadjar, Red Bull: 5
• Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac: 5
• Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi: 2
• Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes: 2
• Oliver Bearman, Haas: 1
• Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls: 1
• Franco Colapinto, Alpine: 0.5 to 1
• Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls: 0.5 to 1

These are estimates: teams do not publish contracts, and sources differ on some figures. The National (10 September 2026), which uses RacingNews365 and f1salaries.com, reports 34-36 million for Leclerc, 20-24 for Alonso and 13-15 for Piastri. The figures exclude team and performance bonuses and personal sponsorship deals.

What a driver’s income is made of

Base salary is the part the estimates manage to capture, and it is the most unequal: from Verstappen’s $70 million to $500,000 for the youngest, a gap of 140 times between the top and the bottom of the grid.

On top of the base come performance bonuses. According to Motor Sport Magazine, Verstappen collected $15 million in bonuses in 2024 on top of his $60 million salary. F1 contract lawyer Dan Chapman explains that a driver almost always gets a reward for points scored, in varying amounts: at $10,000 a point, a 25-point win would be worth $250,000.

Outside the figures remain personal sponsors, licences and merchandising: separate contracts that depend on the driver’s image and not on the team, and do not appear in the numbers above. For the names most interesting to brands, see our guide to the 7 best Formula 1 drivers for endorsement and sponsorship deals.

The prize pot: who gets what

Formula 1’s prize pot, over $1.2 billion in 2025, is for the teams, not for the drivers. It splits into three parts: about 5% goes to Ferrari as a historic payment, about 20% is allocated on the results of the previous ten years, and the rest, about 75%, on the constructors’ standings.

That is why in 2025 the best-paid team was Ferrari despite finishing fourth (Motor Sport Magazine). And that is why whoever wins a Grand Prix or the drivers’ title does not receive a direct sum from F1: the earnings pass through contract clauses and the renegotiation a title makes possible.

Drivers and the cost cap

The cost cap, introduced in 2021 at $145 million, is $215 million in 2026, because it now includes costs that were previously left out. Drivers’ salaries and the pay of the three highest-paid staff remain excluded (Formula1.com, 10 April 2026): a team can therefore spend on its drivers without touching the cap.

What a driver’s salary tells a sponsor

For a brand, the salary a driver receives from the team says little: Antonelli leads the championship on $2 million, Norris, 2025 champion, has $30 million, Verstappen $70 million. Visibility does not follow pay, and pay is not the cost of being on the car.

To know what it costs to be on the car, there is the guide to the cost of sponsorship in Formula 1, where the lowest level, that of secondary partners, starts at about $2 million a season. The list of who is there today is in Formula 1 team sponsors in 2026.

Twenty-two seats and eleven teams: that number, more than the salary figures, explains why drivers earn what they earn. In a market where seats are scarce, the pay is mostly for rarity, and rarity is also what a brand buys when it chooses to be on that car.

Sources: RacingNews365, F1 driver salaries 2026; NBC Miami, F1 driver salaries 2026; The National, F1 salaries 2026 and Kimi Antonelli; Motor Sport Magazine, F1 prize money; The Race, how the 2025 prize money was split; Formula1.com, the cost cap explained.