{"id":238494,"date":"2022-06-03T08:31:50","date_gmt":"2022-06-03T06:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/the-7-best-drivers-in-formula-1-for-talent-endorsement-and-sponsorship-deals\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T11:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T09:53:09","slug":"the-7-best-drivers-in-formula-1-for-talent-endorsement-and-sponsorship-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/en\/blog\/i-7-best-drivers-of-formula-1-for-endorsement-agreements-and-sponsorships\/","title":{"rendered":"Formula 1’s top 7 drivers for endorsement and sponsorship deals"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2022, putting this ranking together meant looking at who was winning and who had the most followers. In 2026 that is no longer enough: Lewis Hamilton races for Ferrari, Lando Norris is the reigning world champion, Andrea Kimi Antonelli leads the championship at twenty and Daniel Ricciardo has retired. Above all, the way brands choose drivers has changed. Here are the seven Formula 1 drivers who are most interesting today for an endorsement deal, with the personal contracts they actually have, and what it means for a company that wants to partner with one of them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Updated September 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

In short: off the track, the driver who earns the most is by far Lewis Hamilton, with around 30 million dollars from personal sponsors in 2025 according to Sportico, compared with 8 million for Max Verstappen and 5 million for Lando Norris. Winning is not enough: Verstappen, a four-time world champion, has a personal commercial portfolio far smaller than his fame. The seven most interesting profiles for brands in 2026 are Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Verstappen, Norris, Antonelli, Oscar Piastri and George Russell, each with a different audience and positioning.<\/p>\n

Why a driver is now worth something off the track too<\/h2>\n

In the days of Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost or Michael Schumacher, a driver became an icon mainly by winning and appearing on television. Performance still matters today, but a driver is also expected to be a communicator: social media, content produced by the team and by their management, campaigns with sponsors. Netflix’s Drive to Survive turned the protagonists of the paddock into characters in a story and brought Formula 1 a new, younger and more international audience, starting with the United States.<\/p>\n

For a brand, this means a driver is a media channel in their own right, with an audience that does not fully overlap with the team’s. But it also means a driver’s commercial value does not depend on results alone: it depends on who they are, what story they tell and which markets they reach.<\/p>\n

How much drivers earn off the track<\/h2>\n

Sportico’s ranking of the highest-paid athletes of 2025 separates on-track earnings, meaning salary and team bonuses, from off-track earnings, meaning personal sponsors and commercial activities. The numbers are very clear:<\/p>\n