F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton Makes $62 Million In A Years: Forbes

Reigning F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton reportedly makes $62 million a year despite reported budget cuts while his contract was being renegotiated by Mercedes earlier in the year. According to Forbes, in 2021 his base salary is $55 million while he made $7 million doing off-track activities. It was earlier reported that Hamilton had taken a big pay cut in view of the pandemic, but that's clearly not true.  However, this number is lower than the $66 million he made in 2020 though if he wins the world title this year, and he gets the provided bonuses and prize money, he will likely surpass the 2020 figure. 

Following Hamilton is the man many believe would usurp him -- Max Verstappen who currently leads the F1 world championship makes $42 million and his private endorsements alone are just worth $1n million. Number three on the list is the man who makes a return to F1 and is still believed to be a match for Hamilton at the age of 40 -- two-time world champion Fernando Alonso who dethroned Michael Schumacher in the mid-2000s.

Red Bull's drivers Verstappen and Perez make $42 million and $18 million in 2021 embellished by bonuses

Surprisingly, Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull has closed a substantial deal worth $18 million a year followed by the man who replaced him at the Racing Point team. Yes, ex-Red Bull and Ferrari man Sebastian Vettel makes $15 million a year which is a steep downturn from his $30 million-plus figure at Ferrari. Charles Leclerc for Ferrari makes $12 million a year according to the list followed by Valtteri Bottas in P7 with $10 million a year. 

The McLaren duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris makes $10 million and $9 million a year respectively with Ferrari's new hire Carlos Sainz Jr making $8 million in the year.