Highest annual earnings for a race car driver (current)
- Who
- Max Verstappen
- What
- 81,000,000 US dollar(s)
- Where
- Not Applicable
- When
- 01 May 2024
According to Forbes, the highest-earning race car driver is currently Max Verstappen (Netherlands, b. Belgium), who earned an estimated $81 m (£64.7 m) in the 12 months up to 1 May 2024.
This placed the Red Bull F1 driver in 17th place on the Forbes list of highest-earning athletes for 2023–24; topping the list was soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) on $260 m (£207.6 m).
Of Verstappen's total earnings, it's estimated that 94% came from his success on the track, with the remainder supplied by sponsorship and endorsement deals.
He was some way ahead of the only other race driver in the Top 50, with Lewis Hamilton (UK) taking position #21 on $69 m (£55 m).