Toto Wolff earns more money than 16 drivers but does Horner get more?

Horner opens up on Red Bull's 'barren spell' amid Mercedes dominance

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Toto Wolff earns more money than over half the F1 grid while also edging out rival Christian Horner. The Mercedes star is understood to earn a staggering £13.9million (€16m) a year to top the salary chart among the sport’s team principals, according to French magazine Sportune.

The Austrian’s wage is higher than 16 F1 drivers’ base wages last season based on data obtained by Spotrac. Only the sport’s most experienced drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen earn more.

Forbes has estimated Hamilton’s yearly salary to be around £44.4m ($55) which makes him one of the sport’s highest-paid stars. However, Verstappen earned slightly more last season with his £32.3m ($40m) salary topped up with a £16.1m ($20m) bonus.

Spotrac claims that Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc are the other two stars that could earn more than the Mercedes boss. Meanwhile, Horner is understood to be paid between £6.97m and £10.4m (€8-12m) per year after orchestrating back-to-back Drivers’ Championship wins.

It puts the Briton as the second-highest-paid boss on the grid with a salary a lot bigger than his contemporaries. Sportune adds that new Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur and Andrea Stella of McLaren are paid between £5.2m (€6m) and £7m (€8m).

Ex-McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl was also thought to be on a similar wage. But, F1 teams do not need to worry about the wages affecting their budget cap restrictions.

Driver salaries and the three highest-paid employees are exempt from the costs with team bosses usually falling in this category. Bigger teams often have more money available than they are allowed to spend meaning salaries are not under threat.

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F1 had considered introducing a salary cap to ensure wages were not inflated with a concept signed off by the F1 Commission back in 2020. Although, further details have not emerged after opposition from the drivers.

Verstappen warned the idea of a limit on wages was “completely wrong” while Fernando Alonso said it was “not needed”. Wolff was initially sceptical of the proposals but has since claimed an American-style model could work.

He explained: “You can’t simply have a salary bill in some of the top teams that is $30, $40, $50million when the rest of the team needs to be divided in 140m. Having said that, they are tremendous superstars, they deserve to be among the top earners in the sport. In terms of direct salaries they already are.

“Then we need to find a way of unlocking the capability of doing endorsement deals which is two-thirds if not more for American sports teams. But certainly in direct salaries, F1 drivers are paid the most.”

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