How much do F1 drivers earn?
F1 driver salaries in 2026 range from around 70 million dollars a year for Max Verstappen down to roughly half a million for rookies. Net worth, which adds career earnings and sponsorships, runs higher still for the biggest names. Driver pay sits outside the cost cap, unlike the roughly 215 million dollars teams can spend on the car.
What F1 drivers earn
At the top of the grid, Max Verstappen is the highest-paid driver in 2026 on a base salary of around 70 million dollars, with Lewis Hamilton next on about 60 million.[1] Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Lando Norris make up the next group at roughly 30 to 34 million, while rookies sit at the other end on something like half a million to a million dollars a year.[1] These are base-salary estimates and do not include personal sponsorship deals or performance bonuses.[1]
:::analysis Salary is only part of the picture. Net worth, which folds in years of pay, sponsorship and investments, runs far higher for the biggest names, with Hamilton and Verstappen widely estimated in the hundreds of millions. Those valuations are third-party estimates rather than official figures, so treat any single number with caution. Each driver profile carries its own sourced estimate.
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What a pit crew earns
Beyond the drivers, a Formula 1 pit crew is well paid, but on a different scale.[5] Estimates put a lead mechanic or crew chief near a million dollars, the front-line tyre changers in the few-hundred-thousand range, and junior support roles from the low tens of thousands upward, with per-race and win bonuses on top.[5]
What the car and tyres cost
Building a current F1 car costs on the order of 20 million dollars, most of that the power unit, before any research and development is counted.[3] A single Pirelli tyre runs around 600 to 625 dollars, so a set of four is about 2,500 dollars, and a team gets through well over a million dollars of rubber across a season.[4] Spending on car performance is now governed by the cost cap, about 215 million dollars for 2026.[2]
Why driver pay is not capped
Driver salaries sit outside the cost cap entirely, along with the team's highest-paid executives and its marketing budget.[2] That is why a team can pay one driver 70 million dollars without it counting against the roughly 215 million it is allowed to spend developing the car.[2]
:::analysis The spread is the real story. The gap between the best-paid driver and a rookie is larger than some teams' entire driver budget, which is why a seat at a front-running team is worth fighting for, and why so many talented juniors accept tiny salaries, or even bring sponsorship to buy a drive, just to get onto the grid.
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Related reading
- [1]F1 driver salaries 2026 (RacingNews365) (racingnews365). Accessed 2026-06-19.
- [2]What is the F1 cost cap? (Formula1.com) (formula1). Accessed 2026-06-19.
- [3]How much does an F1 car cost? (Motor Sport Magazine) (motorsport-magazine). Accessed 2026-06-19.
- [4]F1 tyre prices (GPFans) (gpfans). Accessed 2026-06-19.
- [5]F1 pit crew salary (The Manual) (the-manual). Accessed 2026-06-19.