Nominal vs present value
Local display: $76.2m · Rebased to 2024 USD via US CPI-U
How the total breaks down
Base salary. The grid's largest guaranteed retainer heading into his 2028 Red Bull extension.
Performance bonuses. Triggered by a record 19 wins from 22 races and a third straight title.
Personal endorsements. EA Sports, Heineken and Viaplay deals, modest next to his salary but growing fast.
Impact 94
- Topped Forbes' F1 pay list for a second straight year on salary and bonuses alone
- Bonus payouts alone from a record 19-win season rivaled a full rival's salary
- Locked in a Red Bull contract structure that keeps pace with future title runs
Verstappen's 2023 bonus haul — $25 million on top of an already grid-leading salary — reset the ceiling for what pure on-track dominance could be worth, independent of the personal endorsement empires that inflate other sports' figures. Forbes' F1 methodology deliberately excludes those endorsements from its ranking, meaning Verstappen's true total, once EA Sports, Heineken and his growing personal sponsor list are added, sits meaningfully higher than even this figure suggests.
Verstappen's 2023 season — 19 wins from 22 races, a third straight title clinched before the summer break — triggered bonus clauses on top of a Red Bull salary already the largest on the grid, pushing his Forbes-tracked on-track total to $70 million before a dollar of personal endorsement money was added. With EA Sports, Heineken and Viaplay deals layered on top, his real total pushed past $74 million, the highest confirmed figure for any driver in the sport's history to that point.