To find F1 drivers grossly overpaid?

[Summerbreezer]

I am partial to a bit of F1 myself - but really - £88m for Lewis? Even more offensive is the fact that Jensen Button (a very average driver whose career is coming to an end) is third on the list!

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/32455380

I know that F1 brings in a lot of revenue and as much as I would prefer doctors and teachers and legal aid lawyers to earn the same, it will never happen.

They are superstars and watched by billions. If they didn't get the money then their team would.

YANBU, it is obscene how much f1 drivers are paid, but what they are paid is a true reflection if their value to their team. F1 just happens to bring in a huge amount of money, and attract a lot of sponsorship opportunity.

Jenson Button is a very average driver?

I certainly don't think he's the best driver on the grid, and I personally think he was very lucky to get the one world championship. But he brings a hell of a lot to a team in terms of car development, feedback etc. And he's also rated by most of the other drivers for his smooth style. I'd go with their assessment of his abilities to be honest.

Yanbu i saw lewis hamilton on sunday wearing his fortune round his neck his gold chain was huge i thought ok lewis we get it you are loaded! Motor racing has always generated glamour and money you cant really compare Drs to car drivers though its a different lifestyle

I agree! It's even more ridiculous when you consider that they are by no means the most talented drivers out there, they are just the ones who have had parents who have literally thrown hundreds of thousands of pounds at their racing careers since early childhood. An option which isn't available for most people. My brother started this path, was exceptionally talented, won sponsorship deals and was doing amazingly well, until it got to a point where my parents had to stump up way more money than they had, and he had to give up and just race as a hobby. He still works in the motorsport industry, and has a brilliant job, but driving was no longer an option.

Anyway, that was slightly off topic! I was just highlighting that they are paid that much and aren't even necessarily the best of the best. They are paid extortionate amounts, a bit like footballers I guess. Pretty vulgar when compared with nurses etc, but then again it would never be remotely feasible for them to be paid the same.

But that's the whole point - teachers and doctors are paid by the government. F1 drivers aren't!

What a private company chooses to pay their employees is nobody else's business.

If your OH was a racing driver and was being paid that I'm sure you'd be quite happy.

If you want the best, you have to pay for it. Because if you don't, someone else will!!

Oh, to add to that, these guys risk their lives every time they get in the car. I don't share the romantic codswallop that some people spout about them doing it for out entertainment, but they deserve some motivation for the risks they are taking.

I doubt Ronnie O'Sullivan ever lies awake the night before a game wondering if he's going to die a fiery death or spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, or in a coma after crashing into a recovery vehicle.

Nobody is asking them to risk their life they choose to get in a car and race it if it crashes these guys know the risks

Of course they know the risks. They also know the rewards.

It's the risk:reward ratio that determines whether they feel it's worthwhile getting in the car or not.

The risk factor doesn't come into it, they aren't paid that much because it's dangerous. Of course, it is dangerous, but it's not essential. We don't need racing drivers, they do it purely because they want to, and would more than likely still do it for an awful lot less than they do.

Exactly that they are not paid millions because of therisk

What's worse is they don't pay tax!!!

Imo they shouldn't be allowed to race under the British flag when they choose to base themselves in Switzerland (Hamilton) or Monaco (most of the rest of them) to avoid UK tax. It enrages me!

I hate that they live abroad even the retired ones swan about monaco not paying tax yes mr coultard im talking about you. They say they are brittish teams but they are not really they are international teams

It's nowhere near as dangerous as being a window cleaner for instance.
As for skill, the whole route is preplanned on computer and fed to the driver like a robot.

And if the window cleaner could earn millions for doing it, he would. He would also tell you that he wanted to be fairly compensated for the risk he was taking. Whether you agreed with it or not would be another matter.

As for your second sentence, there really isn't any point engaging with it.

As for skill, the whole route is preplanned on computer and fed to the driver like a robot.

Really?! In what sort of racing? This isn't true for any form of racing that I am aware of!

Those look like career earnings and probably include sponsorship deals as well as wages. But yes, of course they are overpaid for what they do!

But that is the system we live in isn't it..... 1 person's time is valued at millions where as another's is £6.50 an hour. Personally I don't believe anybody is so special or talented they are 'worth' millions of times more than another, especially in F1 racing where a large part of the success is coming from team input and not just 1 individual. I bet the mechanics and factor staff aren't millionaires.

People say 'oh but F1 drivers risk their life every time they get in a car'..... well so do police officers, ambulance drivers, firefighters, soldiers.... etc, etc.

That's the price of Capitalism and Democracy. The biggest incomes go to those who generate the most income. F1 is a huge industry generating loads of revenue that is then passed on to the key employees.