F1 Team Principal Salaries
Select A Row To Explore Details
11 Staff
| # | Details | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |   | | Team Principal | Team Principal and Managing Technical Partner | Up to $39.8m (£30m) | |
Adrian Newey Salary
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| 2 |   | | Team Principal | Team Principal | $994k-2.7m (£750k-2m) | |
Alan Permane Salary
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| 3 |   | | Team Principal | Team Principal and Chief Racing Officer | $4m-6.6m (£3m-5m) | |
Andrea Stella Salary
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| 4 |   Haas | Haas | Team Principal | Team Principal | $795k-2m (£600k-1.5m) | |
Ayao Komatsu Salary
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| 5 |   | | Team Principal | Executive Adviser | $1.3m-3.3m (£1m-2.5m) | |
Flavio Briatore Salary
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| 6 |   | | Team Principal | Team Principal and General Manager | $4m-8m (£3m-6m) | |
Frédéric Vasseur Salary
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| 7 |   Williams | Williams | Team Principal | Team Principal | $2.7m-6.6m (£2m-5m) | |
James Vowles Salary
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| 8 |   | | Team Principal | CEO and Team Principal | $2m-5.3m (£1.5m-4m) | |
Laurent Mekies Salary
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| 9 |   | | Team Principal | Team Principal | $994k-2.7m (£750k-2m) | |
Marcin Budkowski Salary
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| 10 |   | | Team Principal | CEO and Team Principal of Audi F1 | $2.7m-6.6m (£2m-5m) | |
Mattia Binotto Salary
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| 11 |   | | Team Principal | Team Principal and CEO | $5.3m-9.3m (£4m-7m) | |
Toto Wolff Salary
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How Much Do F1 Team Principals Make?
Salaried F1 team principals earn base pay of $795k-9.3m (£600k-7m) on our figures, and bonuses of 10% to 30% can sit on top. The band follows the team’s budget and the boss’s seniority, which is why Toto Wolff‘s $5.3m-9.3m (£4m-7m) at Mercedes leads the salaried group.
Adrian Newey is the outlier. Aston Martin pays him a package of up to $39.8m (£30m) with bonuses built in, because he designs the car as well as running the team. Kursiv’s April 2026 list put Wolff and Frédéric Vasseur on $9.1m (€8m) each.
Anonymous motorsport pay survey behind our team principal bands and the 10% to 30% bonus range.
Reports the package of up to $39.8m (£30m) a year that Aston Martin agreed with Adrian Newey.
April 2026 salary list that put Wolff and Vasseur on $9.1m (€8m) each, with unclear definitions of pay.
Front Office Sports ranking of team principal pay, used as a cross-check on our bands.
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Insider · Issue 23
01 · The Last Race
Singapore by Salary
Pos
Driver
Pts
Salary
1
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
25
$70m
2
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
18
$34m
3
Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
15
$3.4m
4
Lando Norris
McLaren
12
$30m
5
Oscar Piastri
McLaren
10
$13m
6
Insider+
7
Insider+
Our Take · Insider+
What Each Point Now Costs Red Bull
Toto Wolff Is Paid by a Team He Part Owns
Toto Wolff has run Mercedes since 2013, and his salary is only half the story. Our figure for his base pay is $5.3m-9.3m (£4m-7m), the highest band of any salaried team boss.
His holding company also owns a third of the team, alongside Mercedes-Benz and INEOS. That stake is why Forbes put his net worth at $2.7bn in September 2026, and its dividends never show up in a pay figure.
Who Are the Highest Paid F1 Team Principals?
Newey’s Aston Martin package puts him first by a distance, ahead of Wolff, Vasseur at Ferrari and Andrea Stella at McLaren. The bars measure the top of each person’s pay band.
Smaller teams pay less. Ayao Komatsu is on $795k-2m (£600k-1.5m) at Haas, and Marcin Budkowski, who took over Cadillac in August, starts on $994k-2.7m (£750k-2m).
Who Are the F1 Team Principals in 2026?
Eleven people run the F1 teams in 2026, and three of them weren’t in charge a year ago. Newey became Aston Martin’s team principal for this season, Mattia Binotto added the title at Audi when Jonathan Wheatley left in March, and Budkowski replaced Graeme Lowdon at Cadillac on August 12.
Red Bull changed earlier. Laurent Mekies took over from Christian Horner in July 2025, and Alan Permane moved up to replace him at Racing Bulls. Alpine has no formal team principal, so executive adviser Flavio Briatore fills the role.
F1's guide to the 2026 team principals, including this season's changes.
Cadillac's August 12, 2026 release naming Marcin Budkowski as team principal.
Reports Jonathan Wheatley leaving Audi, which left Mattia Binotto with the title.
Traces Laurent Mekies' route to running Red Bull in July 2025.
What Net Worth Do F1 Team Principals Have?
Wolff is the richest team principal in F1 by a huge margin. Forbes put his net worth at $2.7bn in September 2026, built on his Mercedes stake and earlier investments rather than salary.
Briatore is next at a reported $400m, most of it made in business, and Newey’s wealth is put at around $66.3m (£50m). The salaried bosses sit far lower. Reported figures put Vasseur and Binotto at $7m each and James Vowles at $5m.
Puts Flavio Briatore's net worth at $400m, made mostly in business outside F1.
Covers Adrian Newey's wealth and his Aston Martin deal.
Net worth figures for several team principals, including Frédéric Vasseur.
What Do F1 Team Principals Do?
A team principal runs the whole race team. They set its targets, hire and manage the department heads, represent the team with the FIA and Formula One Management and decide how the budget is spent under the cost cap. On race weekends they sit on the pit wall and answer for the result.
The job looks different at each team. Wolff, Mekies and Binotto also carry the CEO title, while McLaren and Racing Bulls have a separate chief executive for the business side. Most came up through engineering, and Newey still designs the car.
F1's own guide to who leads each team in 2026 and how they got there.
F1 Team Principal Pay: FAQs
Toto Wolff is the richest F1 team principal, with a net worth Forbes put at $2.7bn in September 2026. Most of it comes from his share of the Mercedes team, held through his holding company, and his earlier investments. Flavio Briatore is a distant second at a reported $400m, and no other team boss comes close.
An F1 team principal gets a base salary of $795k-9.3m (£600k-7m) a year on F1 Salaries’ figures, with bonuses on top. Haas and the newest bosses sit at the low end and Mercedes at the top. Adrian Newey’s Aston Martin package of up to $39.8m (£30m) sits outside that range entirely.
Racing driver is the highest paid job in F1. Max Verstappen‘s base salary is reported at $70m, far above any team boss. Away from the cockpit, the biggest figures on record are Adrian Newey’s package of up to $39.8m (£30m) and the $49.4m (£37.25m) McLaren paid Zak Brown in 2024.
The 2026 team principals are Toto Wolff at Mercedes, Frédéric Vasseur at Ferrari, Andrea Stella at McLaren, Laurent Mekies at Red Bull, Adrian Newey at Aston Martin, James Vowles at Williams, Mattia Binotto at Audi, Alan Permane at Racing Bulls, Ayao Komatsu at Haas and Marcin Budkowski at Cadillac. Flavio Briatore leads Alpine as executive adviser.
Zak Brown isn’t team principal because he’s chief executive of McLaren Racing, the company behind the team, and his job covers the business across all its racing programs. Andrea Stella runs the F1 team day to day as team principal and reports to Brown, the split McLaren has used since Stella took over at the end of 2022.
Toto Wolff’s holding company owns a third of the Mercedes F1 team. A 2020 restructure split the team equally between Mercedes-Benz, INEOS, and Wolff, and that split still stands. CrowdStrike founder George Kurtz bought a minority share of Wolff’s holding company in 2025, so not all of that third is Wolff’s own interest.