Who earned the most in 2014? Well, going by their annual salary, it was a trio of drivers with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen joined by Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel on £17.5m apiece.
The latter took a massive £8m boost thanks to a new deal with Red Bull, whilst Raikkonen also saw his salary increase after moving from Lotus to Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton dropped to fourth in the table, with Mercedes paying him an estimated £15.9m annual retainer according to Business Book GP2014.
The Britain’s former team-mate, Jenson Button, sits fifth with his current team-mate in sixth, taking home almost £10m a year – though a newly signed deal for next year is expected to bring his salary in line with Hamilton’s.
Further back and both Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado are on £2.4m – despite the latter bringing around £30m in income for Lotus through his PDVSA sponsor.
The bargain bin contains some real talent too, just showing it’s not all money, money, money in F1, not at least until they’ve proven their worth.
Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo both earn under £1m each.
As expected, the Marussia and Caterham boys fill the final few spots, but are joined by Esteban Gutierrez and Daniil Kvyat.
2014 Driver Salaries:
| # | Driver | Team | £ | € | $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | £17.5m | €22m | $29.4m |
| 02 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | £17.5m | €22m | $29.4m |
| 03 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | £17.5m | €22m | $29.4m |
| 04 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | £15.9m | €20m | $26.7m |
| 05 | Jenson Button | McLaren | £12.7m | €16m | $21.4m |
| 06 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | £9.5m | €12m | $16m |
| 07 | Felipe Massa | Williams | £3.2m | €4m | $5.3m |
| 08 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | £3.2m | €4m | $5.3m |
| 09 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | £2.4m | €3m | $4m |
| 10 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | £2.4m | €3m | $4m |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India | £2.4m | €3m | $4m |
| 12 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber | £1.6m | €2m | $2.7m |
| 13 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren | £794,000 | €1m | $1.3m |
| 14 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | £794,000 | €1m | $1.3m |
| 15 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | £596,000 | €750,000 | $1m |
| 16 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | £596,000 | €750,000 | $1m |
| 17 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | £397,000 | €500,000 | $668,000 |
| 18 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | £320,000 | €400,000 | $534,000 |
| 19 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | £198,000 | €250,000 | $334,000 |
| 20 | Max Chilton | Marussia | £160,000 | €200,000 | $267,000 |
| 21 | Marcus Ericsson | Caterham | £120,000 | €150,000 | $200,000 |
| 22 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham | £120,000 | €150,000 | $200,000 |
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