F1 driver's salaries in the 50, 60, and 70s?

In books...lots of them

Nigel Roebuck, for instance, quoted Phil Hill as saying that: "Ferrari was not paying me at all; I got only a share of the start and finish premiums"
Chris Amon quoted by Eoin Young: "In 1967, Ferrari didn't pay me at all; I got only a share of the start and finish premiums; but in 1968, when I discovered that Jacky Ickx had a 50.000 dollars retainer, I fumed until I got the courage to ask the old man why it was so, and he just answered "but you never asked..." he put me on the same retainer immediately"

Rgds

 

I suppose they always have earned good money, but who was the first F1 driver who got paid megabucks? I mean, becoming the best paid sportsmen in the world.

I´ve always understood that was Lauda in the Brabham years.

 

Yes, he was the first to access to the "upper scale", I think I can find the figure somewhere.
Before him, I guess it was Jackie Stewart; I remember a quote from one of the Elf men (the main sponsor) who said: "he costed us a lot, but gave us also as much in return"...

Rgds

 

I think Senna too started the ball rolling..

 

He famously TRIED to start it rolling with Enzo Ferrari, who dismissed his pretentions as "molto imaginativo"...

Rgds

 

I read an article from Mario Andretti when they were talking about drivers salaries throughout the industry and he said something along the lines of..dont quote me..

"I made more than that in the 70's, thats ridiculous. I was making over 500,000 a year to race and these guys aren't making half of that"

Edit-Found it

http://www.roadandtrack.com/the_road_ahead/the-evolution-of-driver-salaries

Seems when the tobacco money left, the driver money left.

 

I may be slightly mixing up things, but I think (= not 100% sure) that in the book "Lunch with..." from Motorsport Magazine, the lunch with Mario has him quoting his salary at Lotus in 1978, and how he thought himself wise enough to bargain with Enzo Ferrari when asked by him his conditions for a possible return at the Scuderia. I don't remember the exact figure, but Mario was outsmarted by the old fox...

Rgds

 

+1 Jackie Stewart was probably the first F1 driver to become a millionaire.

 

Sir Jackie Stewart Net Worth - TheRichest

 

I have my doubts there.
Lauda was at Brabham after leaving Ferrari, and not in a position to ask for much.
Beside, Piquet, who came later at Brabham, claimed that Bernie didn't like to pay his drivers (or his staff), and that was the reason he left (after 2 WDC), to Williams. Gordon Murray left for the same reasons.
De Angelis brought Parmalat sponsorship at Brabham, and Brabham never had the tobacco money other teams enjoyed.

Lauda started to get in the money when Ron Dennis convinced him to make a come back at McLaren, sponsored by Marlboro. Lauda came back for a huge retainer, it was said then.

 

Stewart also managed to obtain personal sponsors outside of motor racing; Rollex among others

 

Sorry William but I respectfully can’t agree on a few things…

When Lauda arrived at Brabham at the end of 1977, it was him who brought the deal with Parmalat, which sponsored the cars from the 1978 season onwards: any look at a period magazine will show you Parmalat on the 1978 Brabhams (until 1984 included, if my memory etc&#8230: it has nothing to do with Elio de Angelis arrival, which was only in 1985, but with Olivetti which was replacing Parmalat.
The retainer that Lauda got from Bernie in 1977 was the highest number paid to a Formula One driver until then; I shall take an hour or two to go deep in the archives this week-end and bring the exact figure back (even though it will probably look peanuts compared to the €35 millions per year of Fernando...)

Agree on Piquet having been paid very small numbers by Bernie, and having left at the end of 1985 to Williams mainly for this; see Nigel Roebuck “25 great Grand Prix drivers” for instance on this…

I remember an interview of Gordon Murray, in which he said that the main reason why he left was that during all the seasons at Brabham until 1986 he had complete freedom for any technical aspect, but that in 1986 Bernie became disenchanted with the poor results of the low-line BT 55 (the “flat” car) and became slightly suspicious of Gordon Murray’s technical choices and even began to question these, and that was the main reason for Gordon’s departure (according to him); He also stated that Bernie was doing too many things outside running his Formula One Team, and that this had an impact.

Rgds

 

No need to go to your archives to prove a point. I accept what you said. I am surprised that Lauda brought the Parmalat deal to Brabham, always assuming it was De Angelis who did so.

Regarding Piquet and Murray, I remember an interview Piquet gave several years after he retired, explaining why he left Brabham. He went to see Ecclestone to ask for more money, knowing fully well what his rivals could get. Bernie told him he had enough "You had 2 world titles on my cars, what else more do you want".
Ecclestone was very stingy, said Piquet at that time, that's why Gordon Murray also left.

 

You may be confused because De Angelis brought the Olivetti deal at the end of 1984, when Parmalat left.

I quote from memory from the Nigel Roebuck's book, but he said that when Nelson Piquet tried to bait Bernie for a counter-proposal to the one he had from Williams-Honda, Bernie answer was: "well, the only thing left for you to do is go to a bookstore, buy a japanese dictionary, and begin polishing your japanese".
Sweet, isn't it?

And as for Lauda, I shall research the archives for the figure, just for the fun...

Rgds

 

Very interesting, thanks

 

I used to live not far from where Bernie Ecclestone started, in Bexleyheath, and I know a few people who crossed his path in the 50s, 60s, and early 70s before he made it big in F1 with FOCA, etc... I have plenty of stories about him.
I have heard about false insurance claims for damage to cars in his showroom, police inquiries about several cases of arson on his premises, etc... My next door neighbour was an ex-cop who arrested Ecclestone several times!
I know people who bought cars from him (!!) when he was a second-hand car dealer; he hated dealing with female buyers.
He apparently drives a hard bargain in any deal, and is rather tight with money; the reason for his success perhaps?
Do you know that he initially wanted to take over Cooper. He was shocked when he was defeated in his bid? He was a friend of John and Charles Cooper, and bought several cars from them. He may have been instrumental in Jochen Rindt driving for Cooper; the 2 had the intention to create a team.
When Brabham retired, Bernie saw an opportunity to buy his team. He quickly bought Brabham's share, but couldn't work with the other partner: Ron Tauraunac. Bernie shut down the customer cars business of Brabham, and finally conned Tauraunac of his share to take over the team.

 

Moss was the first that proved that GP drivers could make a nice living. In addition to getting serious (for the time) nonautomotive sponsor money and appearance fees he negotiated hard with his teams.

 

After his time with Mercedes, Moss was mostly freelance, even when driving for teams like Maserati and Vanwall, and yes, he was well managed by Ken Gregory who obtained lucrative deals for him. Gregory managed to get for Moss a 10-year personal contract with British Petroleum which was unheard of in those days.
Some say it prevented Moss to drive competitive cars, but it made him rich.

 

I suspect that his insistence on British rides was because they'd pay more. He still managed a few good finishes.

 

OK, I had a look in the Motorsport article "lunch with Mario Andretti", and here are the figures quoted by him for his 1978 contract:
Chapman proposed a retainer of 350.000 dollars plus 10.000 dollars per point
Mario wanted 500.000 for a retainer, plus 10.000 dollar per point.
So Mario went to see Enzo Ferrari, and asked for a retainer of 750.000, hoping to get 500.000; but to his surprise the old man agreed on the 750.000 retainer! So, said Mario, he thought "I should have asked for a million...
Chapman was incensed at the 750.000 retainer, but went back to Players, who agreed on the 750.000 retainer and 10.000 per point, and Mario stayed with Lotus

Lauda got one million dollars from Brabham and Parmalat for 1978

Rgds

 

Apart from a factory ride with Vanwall in 57/58, the other British teams Moss drove for were private - Rob Walker and British Racing Partnership.
I doubt if the private teams paid him much, if at all.
Moss was principally supported by BP, for the rest of his career.

 

In Gilles first year with Ferrari he was paid 75.000$ plus 15.000$ for expenses and 25% of the car sponsorship.....in 79, Sheckter signed for Ferrari for 600.000$ plus 350.000$ from brooklyn chewing gum.......In the same year Gilles was getting around 300.000$ + 100.000$ from marlboro......prior to 1980, Teddy mayer from Mclaren ofered 750.000$ for Gilles but he declined....in 1981, Ron dennis made an offer of 3.5 million for Gilles, negotiations kept going and numbers near 5 million were spoken but in the end, Gilles decided to remain with Ferrari. Gilles total income from the 81 season was 1.2 million. for 82 Ferrari made a deal with Gilles of 65.000$ for each of the 16 races, plus bonuses for points finish..the total of the sponsors on his suit was 1.5 million.

 

Seems to me F1 drivers are overpaid now, especially after the near financial meltdown. And that's part of the reason many teams just can't compete. MotoGP riders have WAY more risk, and make less. And F1 has as much risk as IndyCar drivers (maybe even less, since IndyCars are faster), and make 30+ times more. So risk is not the issue here. Heck, I'd drive for free if I had the chance. But today's F1 salary levels are just ridiculous IMO.

 

I was under the belief that the F1 top drivers are paid well, the middle are driving for nothing and the bottom are buying there ride. True in other forms of racing also.




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