Formula 1: Who are the highest paid drivers for the 2019 season?
By Asher Fair
T-9. Charles Leclerc – $3,500,000
Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is Formula 1’s ninth highest paid driver for the 2019 season with a salary of $3,500,000, although he is technically tied for ninth place on this list with Racing Point’s Sergio Perez.
Like Racing Point’s Lance Stroll and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly, Leclerc is one of the six drivers who drove in Formula 1 last season but are set to drive for different teams in the 2019 season.
Leclerc’s Formula 1 career began at the beginning of the 2018 season after he finished in fourth place in the 2014 Formula 2 Renault 2.0 Alps driver standings and fourth in the 2015 Formula 3 European Championship standings driving for Fortec Motorsports and Van Amersfoort Racing, respectively, and then won the 2016 GP3 Series championship driving for ART Grand Prix and the 2017 Formula 2 Championship driving for Prema Racing. He drove for Alfa Romeo Sauber throughout his rookie season in Formula 1 and did not miss a single race.
Before his rookie season ended, it was announced that the 21-year-old Monegasque would make the move to Ferrari for the 2019 season and that his contract with the team extends through at least the 2022 season. Ferrari’s signing of Leclerc was arguably the biggest blockbuster signing of the 2018/2019 silly season.
In his 21 career Formula 1 starts, the career-high finish of the former Ferrari Driver Academy member is his sixth place finish, which he recorded in the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. He finished in 13th in the driver standings in the 2018 season as the sport’s top rookie after recording an average career starting position of 12.3 and an average career finishing position of 12.5.