Lewis Hamilton is the most successful driver in Formula 1 history and perhaps the most marketable athlete the sport has ever produced. It was inevitable, when he joined a team of Ferrari’s unique stature ahead of the 2025 F1 season, that he would sign a monstrous contract.
Lewis Hamilton is the most successful driver in Formula 1 history and perhaps the most marketable athlete the sport has ever produced.
It was inevitable, when he joined a team of Ferrari’s unique stature ahead of the 2025 F1 season, that he would sign a monstrous contract. Hamilton had previously spent 12 years with Mercedes, another of the world’s largest motoring brands.
While his first season at Maranello was a disaster – he failed to score a single podium in a Grand Prix – Hamilton remains tasked with ending Ferrari’s title drought.
The Scuderia have only had one world champion since Michael Schumacher’s first retirement at the end of 2006 (his replacement, Kimi Raikkonen).
Michael Schumacher earned £29m per year during his Ferrari pomp
Schumacher won five championships in a row at Ferrari between 2000 and 2004, the most dominant run the sport has ever seen.
It’s said that in 2004, his last title-winning season, he was earning a base salary of $40m (or £29m), via Crash.net. It should be noted that this doesn’t account for bonuses or sponsorship payments, so his real earnings would have been much higher.
By comparison, BBC Sport believe that Hamilton earns just under $74m (£55m) just over two decades on. Only Max Verstappen is in the same league when it comes to salary.
It’s unlikely that Hamilton earned significant sporting bonuses last year, given his podium drought and Ferrari’s lowly fourth-place finish in the standings, but he has built up a myriad of other income streams away from the racetrack.
What happens when you adjust Michael Schumacher’s wages for inflation?
Of course, £29m was a much larger sum of money when Schumacher was racing than it is today.
Adjust those wages for inflation, and he was earning the modern equivalent of £53m. That effectively puts him on an equal footing with Hamilton.
Schumacher was 27 when he joined Ferrari in 1996, while Hamilton had already reached his 40th birthday.
When his F1 deal expired at the end of the 2006 season and he stopped driving, Schumacher took on a consultancy role at Maranello. Perhaps Hamilton’s involvement with the company will extend beyond his racing career, too.
Category: General Sports
