The seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (34) is the absolute best earner among F1 drivers with his estimated annual salary of around 50 million Swiss francs. The Briton earns more than twice as much as the runner-up – Max Verstappen (23) collects “only” 23 million francs.
Formula 1 – glamor world with horrific wages? Not quite. That may apply to the big racing stars, but many employees away from the cockpit fall by the wayside.
Team bosses and engineers top – marshals flop
The team bosses of the racing teams cannot complain. On average, they collect between 2 and 3 million euros a year – depending on the racing team, this amount can be even higher. And the engineers also do well on the payroll. The average is around 80,000 to 110,000 francs – a top racing engineer even makes half a million francs a year.
And the mechanics? Despite their long shifts on race weekends and the heavy physical work they do, they only earn an estimated 50,000 francs a year. An amount that marshals can only dream of. Because: Most of them only do the job on a voluntary basis. On some routes, you get a small compensation of less than 100 francs per day. In addition, the marshals have to pay for their training themselves. Not particularly lucrative.
Sure, a job in the Formula 1 world has many advantages: You are closest to the F1 stars, you are part of the racing circus and you can still see a lot of the world. But if you look at the wages of the pilots, there is still room for improvement for the remaining – extremely important – employees.
By the way: The grid girls, which have since been abolished, used to get a lot of attention, but they hardly deserve anything either. Most of the time they were only given accommodation and clothing – and if they were lucky there was also a small allowance. (mou)