A survey, completed by Arabian Business.com has revealed that drivers this year earned in the region of US $130m between them. While some of the figures are generally well documented, the report claims that 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen pulled in an astonishing $45m, or 35% of the total for the whole field.
Raikkonen of course is not racing with Ferrari in 2010, his contract ending a year earlier than scheduled. While the precise figures are not known, it is almost certain that the Italian team are paying the Finn handsomely not to race for the team next season. This could help explain why Toyota, who has publically admitted that they have made Raikkonen an offer for next season, has now backed off at the pay demands required to secure his services.
Lewis Hamilton is about to complete the second season of his five-year McLaren Mercedes contract and earns a reported $18m with Fernando Alonso next up on $15m this year with Renault. The 2005/6 champion is off to Ferrari next season, despite agreeing a two-year deal to remain with the Anglo-French team in December 2008.
Jenson Button we know took a pay cut from a rumoured $12m in 2008 and is listed this year at $5m with the championship winning Brawn Mercedes team. Other notables include Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello on $1m, while team-backed drivers such as Romain Grosjean and Kazuki Nakajima are not actually paid to race ? although one assumes they get something in kind for their efforts.
As ever, the figures are all but impossible to verify, but it still makes interesting reading...
2009 driver salaries ? US $ (m)
1 . K. Raikkonen - Ferrari F60 - 45
2 . L. Hamilton - McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 - 18
3 . F. Alonso - Renault R29 - 15
4 . N. Rosberg - Williams Toyota FW31 - 8.5
5 . F. Massa - Ferrari F60 - 8
6 . J. Trulli - Toyota TF109 - 6.5
7 . S. Vettel - Red Bull Renault RB5 - 6
8 . M. Webber - Red Bull Renault RB5 - 5.5
9 . J. Button - Brawn Mercedes BGP 001 - 5
10 . R. Kubica - BMW Sauber F1.09 - 4.5
11 . H. Kovalainen - McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 - 3.5
12 . N. Heidfeld - BMW Sauber F1.09 - 2.8
13 . G. Fisichella - Ferrari F60 - 1.5
14 . S. Buemi - Toro Rosso Ferrari STR4 - 1.5
15 . R. Barrichello - Brawn Mercedes BGP 001 - 1
16 . J. Alguersuari - Toro Rosso Ferrari STR4 - 0.5
17 . A. Sutil - Force India Mercedes VJM02 - 0
18 . K. Nakajima - Williams Toyota FW31 - 0
19 . V. Liuzzi - Force India Mercedes VJM02 - 0
20 . R. Grosjean - Renault R29 - 0
source F1-Live
