4. Kimi Raikkonen ($27 million)
We are moving on to the top four highest-paid F1 drivers. These gentlemen are in the current Forbes list of Top 100 highest-paid athletes. Let’s start with the Forbes’s number 32, Kimi Raikkonen.
Raikkonen started his F1 career with Sauber in 2001. The following year, he signed up with McLaren before moving to Ferrari five years later.
With Scuderia Ferrari, he won the World Drivers’ Championship in 2007. It was a tight competition. He defeated the runner-ups, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, only by a single point.
He took a break from F1 in 2009 and decided to try on World Rally Championship. He returned to F1 in 2012 with Lotus F1 Team. Then in 2014, he returned to his winning team, Ferrari.
According to Forbes, Kimi Raikkonen receives a $25 million annual paycheck in addition to $2 million team endorsement payment. So, in total, Ferrari pays him $27 million for one year.
