Most people in life need to put in a decent shift or spend considerable amounts of time strategising to ensure they receive a paycheque.
For F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, though, life appears to be far simpler than it ever has been.
The Australian driver is set to earn his biggest salary in 2023 compared to his entire career.
Sure, that’s natural progression, one may argue.
You continue to build experience and over time, your skills fetch a higher sum due to greater demand.
It all makes sense in that sense, the only difference being that Ricciardo won’t even have a full-time seat!
And he wasn’t on the smallest payroll anyway, enjoying one of the fattest salaries in the sport till last year.
The fact that McLaren terminated his contract and that Red Bull signed him up as its reserve driver means it will be Ricciardo’s biggest payday since entering F1 more than a decade ago.
How much will Ricciardo earn for not driving?
A research conducted by Business Book GP claims that Ricciardo will earn $24.3 million in 2023, which is the accrued amount he receives from both McLaren and Red Bull.
McLaren will be footing the majority of this amount, believed to be around $22.2 million, which is a severance payment for terminating the Honey Badger’s contract a year in advance.
Red Bull will pay $2.1 million for his serves as the reserve driver and a brand ambassador.
Having entered the sport in 2011 through the Hispania Racing team, by the end of the next year, Ricciardo would have earned more than $121.4 million.
Forbes currently rates Ricciardo as the equal sixth highest grosser on the Formula One drivers’ rich list in terms of salaries.
Which F1 driver earns the most?
The list was headed by reigning world champion Max Verstappen, who is believed to be on an annual contract worth approximately $60 million.
Verstappen had a contract which had plenty of incentives included in it. He was earning money for every appearance, but also additional sums for race wins, podium finishes and qualifying wins.
His tremendous success, where he broke the record for most wins in a season (15), meant that he ended up bagging more money in a year than Lewis Hamilton, who was the record holder at the time of highest breadwinner among drivers in a season.
Despite Hamilton’s challenging campaign, where the British driver failed to win a single race for the first time in his career, he still ended the season with an estimated $55 million salary courtesy Mercedes-AMG.
What next for Ricciardo?
Ricciardo was finally shown the exit door by McLaren after two disappointing seasons with the outfit.
He will, however, be fondly remembered by them for notching their first race win at the Italian Grand Prix in 2021.
However, he was constantly outdone by his younger teammate Lando Norris.
Things got worse for Ricciardo in his second year at McLaren as the Australian driver’s best performance was a P5 at the Singapore Grand Prix.
He eventually finished the season ranked 11th in the drivers’ standings, while Lando finished in 7th spot.