Formula 1: Who are the highest paid drivers for the 2019 season?
By Asher Fair
3. Daniel Ricciardo – $17,000,000
Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo is Formula 1’s third highest paid driver for the 2019 season with a salary of $17,000,000.
Like Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly, Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen, Ricciardo 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. He is set to be the highest paid out of these six drivers, and by far.
Ricciardo has competed in Formula 1 since the 2011 season when he drove for HRT in 11 of the season’s 19 races. He began his career as a full-time driver in the sport in the 2012 season, and he has not missed a race since.
The 29-year-old Australian drove for Scuderia Toro Rosso, the Red Bull Racing junior team, in the 2012 and 2013 seasons before he was promoted to Red Bull Racing ahead of the 2014 season. He spent each of the last five seasons driving for the Milton Keynes-based team before making the switch to Renault on a new two-year contract.
In his 150 career Formula 1 starts, Ricciardo has earned seven victories, 29 podium finishes and three pole positions. He earned all of these victories, podium finishes and pole positions during his five-year tenure driving for Red Bull Racing.
Ricciardo recorded career-high finishes of third place in the driver standings in the 2014 and 2016 seasons. His average career starting position is 9.5 and his average career finishing position is 9.7.