14 replies to this topic

[Nathan]

Just thought Id post some 1999 salaries of some of the top drivers from last year. If you know of anymore, or updates please add. All figures are in US dollars and dont include bonuses or endorsements. Ill try and post some 97 salaries to compare to the drivers now.

M. Schumacher Ferrari $26.1-million
J. Villeneuve BAR $16.6-million
D. Hill Jordan $9.9-million
M. Hakkinen McLaren $7.4-million
J. Alesi Sauber $6.6-million
E. Irvine Ferarri $5.4-million
R. Barrichello Stewart $4.3-million
D. Coulthard McLaren $4.0-million
G. Fisichella Benetton $2.7-million
HH. Frentzen Jordan $1.9-million

[speedy]

I don't know how the Forbes magazine has calculated the earnings, but their list concerning motorsport goes like this :

1. Michael Schumacher
2. Dale Earnhadt
3. Jeff Gordon
4. Mika Häkkinen
5. Jacques Villeneuve

I think you should include the bonuses and sponsor money in the list so it would show the real amounts of money involved...they are huge anyway ;)

[Nathan]

According to Forbes, MS was the 4th highest paid athlete in the worl. He $35-million in 1997, $10-mill of that was from endorsements.

For the record only M. Jordan, Oscar dela Hoya and that boxer who got his ear bitten made more...I forget his name.

[man from martinlaakso]

As far as I know, the salary of MH is about 19 million dollars for this season.

[silver fan]

While where on the subject of money ( or lack there-of in my case ) does anybody know how much a driver gets in prize money for winning a GP? I'm assuming of course there is prize money awarded.

[MrAerodynamicist]

There isn't a prize money system.

However, a couple of years ago during the problem with the new concorde agreement, there was an article in Autpsort about " prizes for 'historical success'" Different teams were [are?] to get money depending on their history. This worked out such that the teams had to pay Ferrari some money!! Apprently only Williams and McLaren had the clout to get out of this. If this is tru I don't know, the concorde agreement is mighty secret!

------------------
MrA
Ferrari Fans are just lost sheep following the pack
BREADnet

[Sean L]

I also didn't think prize money was awarded for point finishers until DC said:

"If the result stands then, as a fellow Brit, I think Jenson should give me 10 per cent of whatever prize money he gets for his first point.

Does that mean that you get money for your first point ever or do you get money for being in the points or would it be bonus money from the team???

[molive]

If MS is making that kinda money (very overpaid IMO), imagine what Senna would be getting...


$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!

[Nathan]

Difference between Senna and Schumacher is, Senna demanded his large numbers, Schuey was offered it. Im sure Senna would have gotten Mika money ($20-milliion), but I doubt as much as shumacher. If Senna still raced, other than Willaims and maybe Benetton at the time could afford to give hime that much? If Frank didnt in '94, I dont think he would have gotten much until the last 2 years or so.

[Daemon]

Didn't Senna volunteer to race for Williams in '94 for Free?

[Nathan]

Wouldnt surprise me any...I sure would have!!! But by him saying that to Frank, is like telling Bernie a calender race made a profit, bad move. Frank is one of the cheaper owners, not that thats bad, but the thing is, at the time, other than Ferrari, Williams (maybe Benetton)was really the only team at the time that could afford a $10-M+ driver. In 95 McLarens total budget was $45-million. The question was think of how much Senna could have made, had he been racing now.

It must be known however, that Senna was the first driver to make more than $25-million in a season. He earned (with bonuses and endorsements) $29-million in 1992. However that was with McLaren, a team at the time, like now, was swimming in cash.

However back to the question. I think in 1997/98, when McLaren and Merc started getting serious, I think there would have been a bidding war between Willaims and McLaren for Senna, that may have pushed him to Sheuys, or over Schueys contract. Also a possiblity, he may have went to Benertton to replace Schumacher. They still had the Reanult engines...

Oh the possibilites.

[kenny]

As I recall Senna got 30million $ from Williams for 1994-1995. I dont know if that incl. Bonusses and stuff..
and yes, Senna did volunteer to drive for free for Williams!
It wasnt for the money he did it...he just loved winning!

I think if Senna would still be racing, he would be getting much more than schumi...

[Pacific]

I know this will probably upset a lot of people, but I think Michael Schumacher would have upstaged Ayrton Senna in the end. Most drivers don't usually end their careers on great winning notes like Alain Prost if they keep racing. It just seems likely that Ayrton Senna would have lost a bit with age, and Schumacher would have been the one to pass him obviously.

What Senna's death in 1994 did was make him a legend. I mean, 1994 wasn't going to good for Ayrton Senna already, I mean, he had been racing hard in Brazil against Schumacher and spun out. But what we don't have with Senna is an entire season of horrid results like Damon Hill for instance, and leave with that memory, or of Nigel Mansell coming back, doing horrible, and getting the boot in favor of Mark Blundell.

In NASCAR it happens all the time. I mean, Richard Petty won his 200th in 1984 and never won again despite racing until 1992. He was competitive still when he raced for Curb Motorsports and again in 1987 when he reformed his team again. But as time went on Richard even missed a few races. A lot of that was due to his team, but he just wasn't as good. Or you have Cale Yarborough and Buddy Baker, I mean, they were decently competitive when they retired, but still, a lot of people probably didn't know at the time that were knew how good those two were. There are others, right now Darrell Waltrip is one. Darrell proved subbing for Steve Park in 1998 that he was still a good driver, but was he like he was in the 70's and 80's? I don't think so. And I really like all those NASCAR drivers too, so...Richard is my favorite driver of all time. (The whole Petty family is very fan friendly. I've met Richard, Kyle, and Adam. Lee's apparently in the hospital with a stomach aneurism, hope Lee gets better. Get well Lee!)

Or how about Al Unser Jr. in CART? His career went way down hill. Most drivers don't end their careers as champions, and some struggle to be out of the mid-pack, which is always sad to see. But this happens in all forms of racing. For me, in NASCAR, when one of the older drivers has a resurgance, that's always fun and brings back a lot of memories. I'd really like to see Bill Elliott get some wins again and get up to that 50 win mark. Maybe with Evernham's team he can do it. I know it'd be awesome if Darrell Waltrip got a win this season. Nobody I'd rather see win more.

Right now Michael Schumacher is kind of the man equated with F1. He's the dsriver that most Americans know who don't follow F1. They haven't heard of Heinz-Harald Frentzen let alone Jenson Button and they might tell you Gaston Mazzacane was the candle in The Little Mermaid. In Forbes most influential entertainers list, Schumacher was the top driver in the world. I find it hard to believe Earnhardt grosses more than Jeff Gordon, but he seems to. I mean, Jeff has a lot commercials right now and many of the new fans love the guy. Here's hoping Gordon's season improve. I know I got tired of him winning all the time, but I don't wish failure on him. Kind of like if Michael Schumacher stopped winning, I know I'd root for him to get one for old time's sake. (We'll see if anything like that ever happens though.) A lot of people may think of me as an Anti-Schumacher, but I don't hate the guy. I respect his skill, and he's usually a good interview. I just root for underdogs and stick with them when they achieve too, like Mika Hakkinen. I think this post helps prove I'm not anti-Schumacher. Michael that is. Kind of indifferent about Ralf nowadays. This season isn't ending up as great as I thought it would be. All this DQ stuff really is taking a lot out of it and it'd be nice if Mika's car could hold up so we could see him and Schumacher battle it out and get a clear picture.

I with TW, hoping for an Arrows podium. At least I can bet on Gaston Mazzacane finishing the race.

[This message has been edited by Pacific (edited 04-01-2000).]

[doohanOK]

Actually Senna offered his services for 1993, when Mansell was trying to re-negotiate. Senna was only trying to get Dennis and McLaren to pay more.

The year might actually have been 1992, but I believe it was for 1993.

Senna never really wanted Williams for 1993, in a sense because of Prost, but he used Williams as bait.

Senna was known to be very shrewd whilst negotiating contracts.

regards,
doohanOK.

[Pacific]

And this is where the technology and money of McLaren/Mercedes, Ferrari, Jaguar, Williams/BMW, and Renault come into play. They should all have the resources to be able to overcome some of these problems with technological answers. People are always thinking of ways to fix things. The FIA keeps screwing with the rules to make the cars jokes but do the cars end up slow? No, just twitchy and dangerous. Kind of against common sense, but who said the FIA were logical. I

'd be happier if Formula 1 had a governing body similar to NASCAR or CART. While not perfect, they don't screw with the cars as much. Although, NASCAR is starting to tick me off. If they deny Dodge their potential engine, I'll be pissed. Apparently, rumor has it, the Dodge engine is going to be far superior to the Ford and GM engine, and those two manufacturers are already bitching. NASCAR was a bit more fun when the manufacturers were really competing against each other. One manufacturer would take the lead for a while, like say Fords at the superspeedways back in the mid-80's. Well, then the GM brands (Chevy, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick) fought back with their own designs. Some cars would have shorter wheelbases and such two improve handling characteristics some. There is a difference in the size of say the Oldsmobiles in the 1988 Daytona 500 to the Fords.

Nowadays the manufacturers in NASCAR only bitch and moan and are too lazy to really do anything. God forbid if one brand had an edge. Normally it'd be, well, time to for the other brand to counter that. If NASCAR is so concerned about it why not just have a stock chassis and body for every team and we can just have Ford, Chevy, and Pontiac but their decals on the cars if they want. But Ford's decal weighs more...It sure would be cool if NASCAR was more like it was in the past if you ask me. Kyle Petty (who really got screwed today with second round qualifying practice being canceled, but Adam Petty made the race!!) is probably right, it's too commercial now. And I think a lot of the fans that follow NASCAR now aren't really that interested. With prices increasing, a lot of your die hard fans can't go to the races anymore...it's not much different in San Jose, CA, where my favorite hockey team plays. They sell out nearly every game, but people go there because it's a party of sorts and because they can, most of them don't really know anything about hockey. Hopefully NASCAR can stay successful but I'd like things to change a bit, less bitching by Ford, Chevy, and sometimes Pontiac, If Chevy has you beat with their designs, well, time to get your ass in the drawing room and get some track testing going. The whole damn country (USA) as a whole is getting lazy and fat, so why not NASCAR. I don't really think of most European countires as any more industrious than the USA, but as a general rule, they are not nearly as overweight as the United States. Liking Roger Waters said, everybody is just amusing themselves to death over here.

I don't see CART make any mandates that only so many teams can use Reynards...yet. Doesn't matter, Lola is going to reclaim some territory through hard work and results. Which is the way it should be. NASCAR manufacturers take notice. Both Reynard and Lola nearly went bankrupt in the 90's!!! March got a bit complacant and had a lot of problems, notice their F1 effort, and othr manufacturers took advantage. Hard to remember those old Buick engines in CART. I guess the Oldsmobile Aurora is as close as I'll get to the old days of Oldsmobile and Buick in auto racing.

It is too bad that Swift could have done better. And I'll miss AAR and the Eagle chassis and it's weird to know that I'm probably never going to see another Penske CART chassis come off the line. CART with 5 chassis manufacturers would have been pretty sweet. Too bad no sponsors found Dan Gurney's effort worth it...can't believe Dan Gurney got ripped by the auto racing world like that. I don't know, I guess Dan's history doesn't mean too much to most Americans. How many have even heard of Dan Gurney? Probably not too many. Hopefully AAR can rebuild. Some success in lower formulae and getting some sponsors and a driver and crew base back together, who knows. Of course, my favorite F1 team made the jump too soon, Pacific. Now what are they doing? Remember when Forti was great in F3000? Coloni has kept on, somehow, but they keep slipping down further and further. Pacific would have survived though had Ilmor not screwed the team over with engines in 1994. After Pacific found out they were getting used and remanufactured parts for their F1 engines, they told Heini Mader to shove his bill where the sun didn't shine. Unfortunately the courts didn't agree with that too much. Forti got bought by a company that didn't even want to spend money racing!!! Whoops. Maybe someday Minardi will get factory engine backing...probably not though. With so many companies being bought out by other companies...