Reports in the Spanish media claim that Fernando Alonso is the highest earner on the 2010 grid.
The El Mundo article sourced data from Business Book GP that compiled a top-to-tail list which claimed that Alonso’s retainer from Ferrari – excluding any endorsements – was a cool €30M.
That makes Ferrari’s ‘team orders’ fine from the German Grand Prix equivalent to just over day’s work for Fernando! Small change in the grand scheme of things!
Alonso’s salary nearly doubles that of the next biggest earner on the grid, Lewis Hamilton, who is on €16M – which is also believed to be equivalent to the salary Ferrari is paying former driver Kimi Räikkönen not to race.
Felipe Massa is the third-highest earner on less than half of Alonso’s base, pocketing €14M.
Also earning significantly less than his championship-winning team-mate is Jenson Button, who picks up just over half of Lewis Hamilton’s equivalent salary, with a €9M retainer.
There is equality all round at Mercedes GP, with both its drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg on an €8M base. It must be noted that this income is relative peanuts for Schumacher, whose salary he commanded at Ferrari was believed to be close to seven times that amount in the height of his championship-winning career.
Rubens Barrichello managed to get Sir Frank Williams – a man notorious for not paying his drivers very much – to part with €5.5M each season for his services.
In the cheap seats are Red Bull, who are only paying Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel €4.2M and €2M respectively.
Lotus hired the experience of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli for a cool €3M each per season, and will hoping to generate a return on their investment in the years ahead.
The full earnings list is as follows:
Driver | Team | Salary | |
1. | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | €30,000,000 |
2. | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | €19,000,000 |
3. | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | €14,000,000 |
4. | Jenson Button | McLaren | €9,000,000 |
5. | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | €8,000,000 |
=. | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | €8,000,000 |
7. | Robert Kubica | Renault | €7,500,000 |
8. | Rubens Barrichello | Williams | €5,500,000 |
9. | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing | €4,200,000 |
10. | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus | €3,000,000 |
=. | Jarno Trulli | Lotus | €3,000,000 |
12. | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing | €2,000,000 |
13. | Timo Glock | Virgin Racing | €1,000,000 |
14. | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams | €700,000 |
15. | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | €500,000 |
=. | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber | €500,000 |
17. | Jaime Alguersuari | Scuderia Toro Rosso | €400,000 |
=. | Sébastien Buemi | Scuderia Toro Rosso | €400,000 |
=. | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | €400,000 |
20. | Adrian Sutil | Force India | €200,000 |
=. | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India | €200,000 |
=. | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin Racing | €200,000 |
23. | Bruno Senna | Hispania Racing Team | €150,000 |
24. | Karun Chandhok | Hispania Racing Team | €0 |
=. | Sakon Yamamoto | Hispania Racing Team | €0 |
[Original image via The Hindu]
Richard Bailey
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