Highest Paid Race Car Drivers: Earnings in Motorsport Explained

The highest paid race car driver is Max Verstappen, who tops Forbes’ 2025 ranking of on-track Formula 1 earnings at an estimated $76 million — about $65 million in salary plus $11 million in bonuses. Lewis Hamilton follows at $70.5 million in his first Ferrari season, with 2025 world champion Lando Norris third at $57.5 million. Personal sponsorships, counted separately, push the biggest names higher still.

What “highest paid” actually measures

Motorsport salaries are not published, so every figure quoted here is credible industry estimate rather than confirmed contract detail. The most-cited benchmark is Forbes’ annual list, which measures only on-track income — team salary plus performance bonuses — and deliberately excludes personal endorsements, image rights, and business income.

That distinction matters. A driver’s headline salary can understate their real earnings by tens of millions once commercial deals are added. It also means comparisons across series are not always like-for-like: NASCAR figures usually fold in sponsorship money, while the F1 salary ranking does not.

Formula 1’s top earners in 2025

Formula 1 pays better than any other series at the elite level, and the 2025 numbers show why.

Max Verstappen led the grid for the fourth straight season at an estimated $76 million, the bulk of it a very high Red Bull base salary topped up by win and podium bonuses. His title run ended in 2025, but his pay did not.

Lewis Hamilton ranked second at roughly $70.5 million, almost all of it base salary. His move to Ferrari made him the grid’s highest-paid driver on salary alone; only Verstappen’s larger bonuses kept him off the top spot.

Lando Norris was third at about $57.5 million despite winning the 2025 Drivers’ Championship by two points. His deal was more bonus-weighted — roughly $18 million in salary and $39.5 million in results-linked pay — a reminder that title-winning form can arrive before a top-tier salary does.

Highest paid F1 drivers 2025

Rank	Driver	Team	Est. earnings (2025)
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	$76.0m
2	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	$70.5m
3	Lando Norris	McLaren	$57.5m
4	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	$37.5m
5	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	$30.0m
6	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	$26.5m
7	George Russell	Mercedes	$26.0m
8	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	$13.5m
9	Carlos Sainz	Williams	$13.0m
10	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	$12.5m

Source: Forbes 2025 (on-track salary and bonuses; excludes endorsements).

NASCAR’s biggest earners

NASCAR’s top drivers benefit from a packed schedule, large domestic television audiences, and a sponsor culture that plasters cars and race suits with branding. That commercial exposure lifts total pay, though the base salaries sit below F1’s peak.

In 2025, Kyle Busch was NASCAR’s highest-paid driver at just under $17 million — a figure that blends his Richard Childress Racing salary, race winnings, bonuses, and a broad endorsement portfolio. Denny Hamlin followed at roughly $13 million, with Martin Truex Jr. around $10.4 million. Even the series’ best-paid name earns less than a mid-table F1 driver’s salary, but strong sponsorship keeps NASCAR’s top earners firmly in the millionaire bracket.

How pay is built across series

Racing income generally breaks into three parts: a team salary funded by manufacturer backing and commercial revenue; performance bonuses tied to wins, poles, and championships; and personal endorsements independent of the team. For the biggest F1 names, endorsements can match the salary itself.

IndyCar pays its top drivers at established teams like Penske and Ganassi in the low-to-mid millions, below F1 and NASCAR, though an Indianapolis 500 win still carries major commercial value. Endurance racing’s factory drivers earn competitive salaries but see lower mainstream exposure, which caps endorsement income. Formula E sits in a similar bracket, with a growing but still modest commercial ceiling.

The 2026 chase

The salary hierarchy heading into 2026 looks set to stay top-heavy. Verstappen and Hamilton anchor the top of the pay scale on long, high-value contracts, while Norris and Piastri — McLaren’s title-fighting pair — are the drivers most likely to climb as new deals reward their form. Overall spending keeps rising: the grid’s ten highest earners took home a combined $363 million in 2025, up 15% year on year and around 72% higher than in 2021.

The wider story is the range itself. The best-paid drivers out-earn most athletes in any sport, while those in junior series or without backing may fund their own racing and earn nothing at all. That spread says as much about motorsport’s commercial structure as it does about talent — and, as of 2026, F1 remains the place where the very biggest numbers are found.