Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Saturday, December 14th.

Today on Forbes, Formula One's highest paid drivers, 2024.

After racing to the most dominant season in Formula One history in 2023, with 19 wins in 22 Grand Prix races,

Max Verstappen faced a much stiffer challenge this year,

capturing the driver's championship by a relatively meager 63 points in the standings.

When it comes to his paychecks, however, Red Bull Racing's 27-year-old star is extending

his lead on the field.

For the third straight year, Verstappen is F1's highest paid driver on the track,

with estimated 2024 earnings of $75 million, including a series record $60 million in salary

to go with $15 million in performance bonuses.

That puts him $18 million ahead of his longtime rival, Louis Hamilton,

of Mercedes, who made an estimated $55 million in salary and $2 million in bonuses at age 39,

and widens the gap from $15 million in 2023 and $5 million in 2022.

McLaren's Lando Norris, who claimed the first four Grand Prix victories of his career this year and threatened Verstappen for the championship, sprinted to third

in the earnings race, with an estimated $35 million, up from sixth, and $15 million last year.

The 25-year-old Brit signed a contract extension in January

that is believed to have boosted his salary to $12 million,

according to Forbes estimates,

more than double his number from 2023.

But the big difference was his roughly $23 million in bonuses this year.

F1 driver compensation figures are rarely made publicly available, but contracts are typically understood to link pay directly to on-track performance.

An established driver at a top team will generally receive a large guaranteed salary

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