How Much Do F1 Esports Drivers Make?

A lot of people want to know how much money F1 drivers make. We did some research and found out that the average F1 driver makes around $10 million per year.

Salaries of F1 Esports Drivers

As the world of esports continues to grow, so do the salaries of those who participate in them. While many games offer prize money for those who place in tournaments, some games also offer salaries for those who are good enough to be signed by an organization. Formula 1 is one of those games.

Minimum salary

As of the 2019 season, the minimum salary for an F1 driver is $407,000 USD. This is a decrease from the 2018 season minimum salary of $520,000 USD. The decrease is due to lower prize money payouts in 2019.

Maximum salary

The maximum salary an F1 esports driver can earn is $200,000. This is the same as the maximum salary for a real-life F1 driver. The only difference is that F1 drivers get paid by their teams, while F1 esports drivers are paid by the game’s developer, Codemasters.

Prize Money

While the top Formula 1 drivers in the world can earn upwards of $30 million per year from their salaries and sponsorships, F1 esports drivers make a fraction of that. The prize money for the inaugural F1 esports series was $200,000, with the winner taking home $50,000.

Minimum prize money

While the top drivers in Formula 1 can earn tens of millions of dollars a year, the bottom of the pack is not so lucky. In fact, many drivers struggle to make ends meet, and some even have to take second jobs just to keep racing.

The minimum prize money for an F1 race is $US10 million. This may seem like a lot, but it has to be split among the teams and their drivers. So, even if a driver finishes in last place, they will still take home a hefty sum. However, this is only a fraction of what the top drivers earn.

Maximum prize money

The total prize money for the 2020 season was $175 million. This is distributed among the teams based on their standings in the Constructors’ Championship, with the winning team receiving $44 million. The amount each team receives is determined by their position in the championship, with the winning team receiving $44 million.

Bonuses

F1 Esports drivers make a base salary of $50,000 per year. In addition to their salary, they also receive bonuses for their performance. Bonuses are typically given out based on the driver’s finishing position in the race. The higher the finishing position, the higher the bonus. The top drivers in the world can make upwards of $1 million per year with their salary and bonuses combined.

Performance-based bonuses

In addition to their base salary, F1 esports drivers can also earn performance-based bonuses. These bonuses are typically paid out by the team and are based on how well the driver performs during the season. For example, a driver who wins the championship may receive a bonus of $50,000 or more.

Championship bonuses

At the end of each season, teams and drivers are awarded points based on their standings in the championship. The constructors’ champions is the team that has scored the most points over the course of the season, while the drivers’ champion is the driver who has scored the most points.

In addition to these points, there are also prizes for winning races and finishing in podium positions. These are typically in the form of cash bonuses paid out by the team or Constructors’ Championship prize money paid out by Formula One.

The amount of prize money paid out each year varies depending on several factors, but it is typically around $5 million per team. In recent years, there has been a trend towards larger bonuses being paid out to teams and drivers who perform well in the championship.

Endorsements

As with any sport, the amount of money an F1 esports driver can make varies greatly. The very best in the world can earn millions of dollars per year from prize money, salaries, and endorsements. The vast majority of F1 esports drivers, however, make far less. Most earn a few thousand dollars per year from their salaries and winnings, with only a handful making more than $10,000.

Product endorsements

Product endorsements are a huge part of a driver’s annual earnings, with some making more from this than they do from their share of prize money.

For example, Lewis Hamilton is thought to earn around $10 million a year from his deals with Head & Shoulders, Tommy Hilfiger, L’Oreal and Bose.

Other big names like Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel are also understood to be on similar money-spinning deals.

However, it is not just the superstars who can command huge fees for appearing in adverts and promoting products on social media.

Drivers further down the grid can also make good money from endorsements if they have a large enough social media following or if they are considered to be up-and-coming stars of the sport.

Social media endorsements

Most F1 esports drivers are able to make a comfortable living off of their social media endorsements. For example, the top 10 F1 esports drivers made an average of $47,000 from social media endorsements in 2019. This is on top of their earnings from tournament winnings and sponsorships.

Top-level F1 esports drivers can expect to make anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 from social media endorsements alone. The more followers a driver has, the more they can charge for endorsements. For example, Juan Lo Perez, who has over 100,000 followers on Twitter, charges $500 for a single tweet.

Some drivers are able to make even more than this from social media endorsements. For example, Brendon Leigh, the 2018 F1 esports champion, made $180,000 from social media endorsements in 2019. This is more than double what the average F1 esports driver made from social media that year.