Top 20 Highest Earning International Athletes
CNN’s Sports Illustrated has released a list of top 20 highest earning International Athletes which contains 4 Formula One drivers.
Hamilton is the richest of Formula One drivers with total earnings of USD 26.7 million. He is at number 10 in the list. The next Formula One driver in the list is Kimi Raikkonen at number 14 with total earnings of USD 23.6 million. Jenson Button is right behind Kimi on number 15 with career earnings of USD 23.1 million. The last of the formula one drivers is Fernando Alonso at number 17 with USD 22.6 million.
The earnings figures include winnings, endorsements, bonuses and appearance fees.
The highest international earner according to the list is Tennis star Roger Federer with earnings of USD 61.8 million. Argentine footballer Lionel Messi is number two with USD 44 million and David Beckham, who was at the top last year fell to number three with USD 40.5 million.
Moto GP star Valentino Rossi is the richest of all motor sport celebrities with total earnings of USD 35 million occupying 7th spot in the list.
The richest athlete in the world is Tiger Woods who tops the list of Top 50 Highest Earning American Athletes with career earnings of USD 90.5 million. On the list, US Golfer Phil Mickelson is a distant number two with earnings of USD 61.6 million. Boxer Mayweather Jr. is third richest athlete in the United States with USD 60.2 million against his name.
Last year salaries in Formula One reveal that Kimi Raikkonen was the highest paid Formula One Driver drawing USD 45 million annually. Lewis Hamilton is under a 5 year USD 120 million contract with McLaren and was paid USD 18 million last year. Fernando Alonso was third with a salary of USD 15 million.
Nico Rosberg was the highest paid driver amongst those that had not won a championship. His annual salary is USD 8.5 million. Felipe Massa closely follows getting paid USD 8 million every year by Ferrari. Jarno Trulli is next with USD 6.5 million while Sebastian Vettel draws USD 6 million annually. Mark Webber with USD 5.5 million, Jenson Button USD 5 million and Robert Kubica with USD 5.4 million completed the top ten last year.
Next in the list were Heikki Kovalainen with USD 3.5 million, Nick Heidfeld with USD 2.8 million, Timo Glock USD 2 million, Giancarlo Fisichella USD 1.5 million, Sebastien Buemi USD 1.5 million, Rubens Barrichello USD 1 million and Jaime Alguersuari with an annual salary of USD 0.5 million.
The drivers that were not paid any salary last year include Vitantonio Liuzzi, Romain Grosjean and Kazuki Nakajima.
Apparently the Global financial recession did not trouble the sport as is evident by the magnitude of increase in drivers’ salaries in 2010 as opposed to last year. Currently Michael Schumacher is the highest paid driver in Formula One. He has signed a USD 33 million per year contract with Mercedes GP. Initially it was expected that Schumacher will be paid a little over USD 9 million. Schumacher’s salary is not being paid by the German team but instead by his sponsors. Daimler AG’s CEO Dieter Zetsche already made it clear that the team will not be able to compensate Schumacher.
The second highest paid driver in Formula One today is Fernando Alonso who earns USD 24 million annually. He is followed by Lewis Hamilton who draws USD 21 million from McLaren annually.
McLaren’s Jenson Button is next in line with an annual salary of USD 16.5 million - an increase of over 300% from last year when he drove for Brawn GP. Sebastian Vettel’s annual compensation is USD 15.8 million and next is Mark Webber with USD 9.2 million.
Oh wait - Vettel’s 15.8 million against Webber’s 9.2! And every time we heard about the problems in Red Bull, we really believed it was about the front wing. A victory in Britain – not bad at all for the number two driver!!
Tags: