Lando Norris beaten to Forbes F1 rich list crown despite title win and £30m McLaren bonus

The income earned by every Formula 1 driver on the grid this year has been confirmed and it is no surprise that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton still lead the pack

Lando Norris has reportedly pocketed a whopping £30million in bonuses following his championship-winning Formula 1 season. However, his huge earnings only place the Brit as the third highest earner in F1 this year, with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton taking home even larger pay packets.

Forbes reports that Norris’ title victory alone bagged him a hefty £7.5m bonus. Coupled with his £13.5m base salary and an additional £22m in other bonuses, Norris’s total earnings for the year exceed £43m. This figure doesn’t include income from personal brand endorsements and business ventures, such as his gaming brand Quadrant.

Verstappen narrowly missed out on the championship by two points, but his eight Grand Prix wins this year added more than £8m in bonuses to his £49m Red Bull salary. A £57m windfall makes him F1’s top earner once again, pushing his on-track earnings over the past five years to a staggering £242.5m.

Hamilton had a disappointing debut season with Ferrari but continues to be handsomely compensated. His £52.5m annual base salary is the largest in F1, although the seven-time champion only added a relatively small amount in bonuses, having not secured a single Grand Prix podium all year.

Like Norris, Hamilton resides in Monaco, which reduces his income tax obligations, though as British citizens, they are still required to pay tax on earnings made in the UK.

Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri, who penned a new multi-year McLaren contract extension in March, ranks fourth on the list. His earnings of over £28m this year will certainly cushion the disappointment of losing the title, having led the championship for six months before a late-season stumble cost him the crown.

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Hamilton’s Ferrari colleague Charles Leclerc completes the top five with estimated earnings of £22.5m, despite not adding anything to his base salary in terms of performance-related bonuses, even with seven podium finishes this year.

George Russell’s earnings lag behind those of his fellow Brits, but he still pocketed £19.5m this year, £8.25m of which were bonus payments, being the only driver other than Norris, Verstappen and Piastri to win a Grand Prix.

Russell inked a Mercedes contract extension in October that included a salary increase and also features performance clauses which, if met, will secure his spot on the 2027 grid.

The other British driver on the grid this year, Oliver Bearman, didn’t make it into the top 10 earners after his debut season on the F1 grid. However, fellow newcomer Kimi Antonelli did, raking in just under £9.5m from his first season as Russell’s team-mate at Mercedes.