Financially, Formula One is doing very nicely at the minute. The Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren and Aston Martin F1 teams are each worth billions of dollars. And since I reported in March that Max Verstappen might earn up to $75 million (£56m) driving for Red Bull this year, he’s now reportedly considering a possible future deal with Aston Martin where he’ll receive around $100m (£75m) per year.
If he defects, he’ll be reunited with aerodynamicist Adrian Newey, who’s just joined Aston as part of a circa £29m annual package over the next five years.
Nobody really knows the 2025 F1 drivers’ salaries but we can have a good guess
But my thoughts are more with salt-of-the-earth F1 punters who live in a different world, where ‘progress’ means free-to-air live races they used to enjoy on TV have been replaced by pay-per-view coverage that doesn’t come cheap, especially if the fans are kids.
Another problem I find when watching F1 on telly, craving raw excitement, is that there, er, isn’t much of it anymore – unless you’re excited by non-F1 celebrities, or listening to endless babble about tyres, points penalties or F1 political rhetoric.
With this in mind, it’s time for all 10 teams and 20 drivers to put in a bit of extra work at every Grand Prix. They can do this by racing – for additional championship points – in identically built, specified and prepared road cars on standard rubber.
