F1 drivers salaries.

[andrew]

Drivers:

1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari €30m
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes €16m
3. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari €16m
4. Felipe Massa Ferrari €14m
5. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes €9m
6. Michael Schumacher Mercedes Grand Prix €8m
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes Grand Prix €8m
8. Robert Kubica Renault F1 €7.5m
9. Rubens Barrichello Williams F1 €5.5m
10. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing €4.2m
11. Jarno Trulli Lotus Racing €3m
12. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing €2m
13. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus Racing €2m
14. Timo Glock Virgin Racing €1m
15. Nico Hülkenberg Williams F1 €700,000
16. Pedro de la Rosa Sauber €500,000
17. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber €500,000
18. Vitaly Petrov Renault F1 €400,000
19. Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso €400,000
20. Sébastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso €400,000
21. Adrian Sutil Force India F1 €200,000
22. Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India F1 €200,000
23. Lucas Di Grassi Virgin Racing €200,000
24. Bruno Senna Hispania Racing €150,000
25. Karun Chandhok Hispania Racing €Nil
26. Sakon Yamamoto Hispania Racing €Nil

Two things to discuss here:

1. As a whole*, are F1 drivers paid far too much? If yes, what is a more acceptable level?
2. Should drivers salaries fall under the budget cap?

*I say "as a whole" because this is not a thread to pick at any one particular driver or team. You want to do that, go somewhere else. This is to discuss the ridiculously high wage packet that this bunch are given. ure what they do is dangerous, but anything upto 30 million?!

My own opinion is that sure the team should pay them but not anything over say £750,000 and the rest can come from sponsorship deals. I also think that should a budget cap ever happen (God forbid!) then this should include the drivers salaries.

Discuss...

[Giblet]

4 of the top paid 5 drivers have delivered one or more championships to a team, proving they could do so again with the right circumstances, whatever they may be. No team that has won a WDC or WCC will complain about that drivers salary was too high.

So it depends on the driver really. I don't think pro athletes are paid too much in general, with some exceptions. Like musicians, they have believed in themselves for their whole lives, against huge odds usually. If their dreams don't come through, more often than not they don't always have a backup plan.

To give an example, I worked one day with Goldie Goldthorpe on a job site. The character Ogie Olgethorpe from the movie Slapshot with Paul Newman was based on him.

Hockey never panned out and he works like many other Joe's for a buck. Until he realized he had hit a ceiling in hockey, he was chasing the dream until far too late.

The compensation is commensurate for the risk in pursuing your dream I figure.

[Mystery Steve]

I agree with Giblet for the most part. Although, I will say that I think Kimi is a little overpaid for what he has delivered on track this year.

[wesley123]

why is kimi in the list? Im sure he doesnt drive F1 anymore...

[czt]

why is kimi in the list? Im sure he doesnt drive F1 anymore...

Because Ferrari are paying for him not to race this year

[wesley123]

ow okay, that is cool. When im older i hope to egt paid too for not having to work

[GTO]

Definitely the top 4 esp. Alonso are paid too much. I view 10M should be a max. Coversely, the bottom 6 are not paid enough...500K should be a min. They are all risking their lives, but so are our soldiers who definitely don't get proper compensation.

[aral]

The "quoted" salaries are purely guestimates, and are not to be taken seriously. I don't know why a thread has been opened on this subject, as few are interested. 6, yes 6 have accessed it.

[xpensive]

Nobody is ever paid more than his estimated worth by the payer. As outrageos as it might seem, as long as it doesn't affect the taxpayer it's ok by me. Problem with F1 is just that, Santander, as a matter of fact the entire Spain, is heavily relying on subs from northern Europe, Germany in particular.

This is what my Italian-born US-boss once xpressed it to me in the 90s;

"You are actually ridiculously overpaid, but you're worth it."

[Dukeage]

We also don't know what bonuses are involved here. If they were total salaries I'd say that some of the middle and bottom order drivers are if anything overpaid, and Vettel probably needs a better manager!

[WhiteBlue]

Vettel does his own deals. I believe that he is now on a longer contract with a higher salary than the original 2010 pay. Red Bull salaries are high with options. That is one reason why Vettel suffered badly from not converting his many poles to victories.

[raymondu999]

I heard from somewhere (can't remember where now) that Red Bull work on a bonus, results-based system. So the more podiums/wins/points, the more bonuses.

[Italiano]

ow okay, that is cool. When im older i hope to egt paid too for not having to work

It's called a pension.

[wesley123]

ow okay, that is cool. When im older i hope to egt paid too for not having to work

It's called a pension.

[Neco FEROX]

I don't understand why Sebastian Vettel is getting paid 2.2 million euros less than Webber.

I know that Webber's much more experience but Vettel is just as fast.

Also Rosberg only debuted in 2006 and Vettel in 2007 and Rosberg is getting paided a lot more and has been less successful.