Top F1 drivers earn silly money, but give very little back to charity

As the 2025 Formula One season kicks off this weekend, I’m reminded of my own brief and unremarkable ‘career’ as an F1 test driver, when  I completed six laps of Leicestershire’s Mallory Park circuit. Miraculously, I kept the temperamental Tyrrell F1 car beneath me on the damp black stuff, and away from the even damper green grass that I came perilously close to putting a wheel on as my confidence grew… but my talent started to run out.

At the opposite end of the scale are the blokes who, in 2025, have secured proper jobs as F1 pilots, with salaries somewhere between good and eye-wateringly excessive. The rookies on the grid include Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar, each understood to be on a basic starter/probationer wage of $500,000-$1million per annum. Haas newcomer Oliver Bearman is the $1m man and a bargain at that price. Mercedes’ new boy Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto are on about $2m each.

Of the more experienced drivers, Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda is earning around $3m, as is Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Alex Albon of Williams, and Red Bull’s latest incumbent, Liam Lawson. Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg will cop $5m, but I’m not sure why because, nice fella that he is, he’s merely plodded for the past decade and a half. He also has the dubious honour of having the most F1 starts (227) without securing a single podium finish or race win. This makes him unique – and overpaid. Sorry, Nic.

Of the big boys – drivers who’ve actually stood on podiums and won F1 races – Esteban Ocon is expected to earn ‘only’ $6m with his new Haas team in 2025. Then comes Alpine’s Pierre Gasly ($12m), and Williams newbie, Carlos Sainz ($19m). Serious wedge, right? Relative newcomer Oscar Piastri of McLaren ($22m) and Merc’s George Russell ($23m) do even better, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ($27m), Aston’s Fernando Alonso ($28m) and McLaren’s Lando Norris ($35m) are close to the top of the earnings tree.

Based more on past glories than recent form, Lewis Hamilton is even closer with a basic salary at Ferrari that’s understood to be around the £57m ($73.6m) mark. Gulp!

No prizes for guessing that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is being paid massively more than any other driver this year. Think basic wage of approximately $75m, plus bonuses for race wins and points scored, in addition to lucrative endorsement, sponsorship and other deals that might gross him almost $100m in 2025. Nice work if you can get it, lad.

I understand and respect his on-board prowess, fighting spirit and pantomime villain box office appeal. But couldn’t Max donate at least 10 per cent of his vast basic salary to charitable causes of his choice? Hopefully, Hamilton and others on mega-wages will then follow suit. For too long, too many top F1 drivers have taken too much while giving back too little. They can, and need to, change their ways.

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