Methodology
How Our Estimates Work
Most Figures Are Estimates
F1 contracts are confidential, so unless a team, driver, or sponsor publishes a figure, the number you see is an estimate built from public evidence, and the label beside it says so.
Sources on Every Page
Each page lists the reporting, announcements, and filings behind its figures, with a note on what each source supports, so you can check a number yourself.
A Label on Every Figure
Every figure is marked Verified, Reported, Estimated, or Calculated. Hover over or tap an icon to see its label, and read what each one means below.
What Our Verification Labels Mean
Every figure on F1 Salaries carries one of four labels, which is how we blend AI-assisted research with clarity, context, and understanding. ChatGPT helps us find the evidence and Claude helps explain it, while the label tells you how much weight that evidence can carry, so a page can still be useful where sources are patchy and you'll always know which figures are solid. The system was inspired by the verified and unverified salary flags on Capology, and we've expanded it to four levels, which are explained below and on our page about how we use AI.
Verified
Confirmed by an official source, such as a team announcement, a sponsor's own release, or a company filing. It's the only label that means someone involved in the deal has published the number.
Reported
Published by a named journalist or outlet with a record of covering F1 business. We link the report, and the figure stays Reported until the team or driver confirms it.
Estimated
Our own figure, built from comparable deals, the seniority of the role, and wider market data. When the evidence is thin, it's shown as a range, and stat cards read Est. or Up to.
Calculated
Worked out from other figures on the page. Pay per month, base per point, and career totals are all Calculated, so they're only as strong as the figures behind them.
We regularly check and recalibrate figures across the site, so a label moves from Estimated to Reported or Verified as stronger evidence comes out, and a range narrows as more reporting lines up.
Driver Pages
Salary, Bonuses, and Income
Base salary is what the team pays before bonuses. Potential income adds the bonus figure shown on the driver page and works as a realistic ceiling for the year. Personal sponsorships sit outside both figures. A new contract changes the numbers from the season it starts, even when it's announced months earlier.
Future Seasons
The salary graph carries on into future seasons for drivers with a signed deal or a taken-up option. Where a new fee hasn't been published, the current salary is carried forward and marked Estimated. Future seasons are hatched on the graph and never count toward career earnings.
Career Earnings and Net Worth
Career totals add up base salary for every season in F1. A plus sign marks a season where the bonus is unknown, so that total is a floor. Older seasons usually have weaker evidence than recent ones. Net worth comes from dated published estimates, so treat it as a guide to scale.
Time Breakdowns, Tickers, and Rankings
Pay per month, week, and day divides the annual salary by 12, 52, and 365. The tickers and the earned-so-far bar spread base salary evenly across the calendar year to give a sense of scale, since real payment dates are private. Base per point divides base salary by championship points, and pay risers compare this season's base with last season's, using the middle of any range.
Reserve Drivers
Reserve pay is Calculated from an entry-level race seat of $1m. Former Grand Prix drivers sit at $400k-800k, drivers with a practice or testing program at $200k-400k, and drivers racing mainly in other series at $100k-200k. A call-up is worth about $42k per race started.
Teams, Staff, and Sponsors
Teams
Team value and revenue come from published valuations and company accounts. Driver payroll is the combined base salary of a team's two race drivers. The money split sets revenue against driver pay, other spending, and profit, and a loss shows past the revenue line. Points per $1m divides a team's points by its driver payroll in millions.
Staff
Senior contracts are almost never published, so staff pay is usually a range. Ranges come from named reporting, team filings, job market data, and the seniority of the role. Pay reported in pounds shows the dollar figure beside it.
Pit Crew, Mechanics, and Engineers
Crew pay is estimated by team tier, since front-running teams pay more than smaller outfits. Figures come from job market data and published reporting, and monthly pay is the annual figure divided by 12.
Sponsors
Deal values come from team announcements and published reporting. Where nothing is public, we estimate a range from the type of deal, where the logo sits, and comparable deals in the paddock. Deal length runs from the start of the current agreement, and a deal's share of revenue compares its value with the sponsor's and the team's latest annual revenue.
Tracks and Tickets
Circuit length, laps, and lap records follow Formula 1's official figures, and pole laps use OpenF1 timing data. Ticket prices come from each race's official seller and show the date they were checked. Race comparisons use the cheapest full-weekend ticket from the official seller, so every Grand Prix is priced on the same basis.
Currency and Rounding
Currency
Figures are shown in US dollars, and ticket prices are converted from the local currency at the European Central Bank rate on the date shown on each ticket page. Sponsor revenue in other currencies uses average 2025 rates, and salaries reported in euros or pounds are converted at a recent rate, so dollar figures can move a little with exchange rates.
Rounding
Money is rounded to keep it readable, such as $456k or $45.32m. Ranges show the lowest and highest credible figure, written as $12m-14m, and Up to marks a ceiling, such as a bonus that depends on results.
Updates
Pages are updated through the season as results, contracts, and prices change. The updated date shows the last edit to a page, and individual figures on it may have been checked on earlier dates. You can read more about who we are and why the site exists on our about page, and how AI tools fit into our research on our page about how we use AI.
Methodology: FAQs
F1 salaries are almost never public, because teams and drivers keep contracts confidential. Figures come out through journalists with sources inside teams, occasional leaks, and company filings. That's why most driver salaries on F1 Salaries are labeled Reported or Estimated, and only a handful are Verified by an official source.
The salary figures on F1 Salaries cover base pay and bonuses from the team only. Personal sponsorships, image rights, and business interests outside the sport show up in published net worth estimates, and for the biggest names they can add millions a year. That's one reason net worth often runs well ahead of career earnings.
Verified means an official source such as the team, the sponsor, or a company filing has published the figure. Reported means named journalists have reported it. Estimated is our own figure, built from comparable deals and market data. Calculated is worked out from other figures on the page, like pay per month or base per point.
Send us the page and your source through the contact page. If the evidence is stronger than what we have, we update the figure, its label, and the sources on that page. Every change comes down to the strength of the evidence behind it.
