Are there any paying drivers in F1?

[TheArchitect]

I see in BTCC there is majority paying drivers who race with a few who get paid. Now i expect there to be a fair few in F1 who arnt paid to drive for said team but are there any who pay to drive? if so who?

[Alex97]

I think there used to be plenty of pay drivers. Pedro Diniz had that sort of arrangement I think (although I think rather than pay himself, he brought sponsors to the team). I seem to recall Nelson Piquet Jnr was the lowest paid this year, something like £200k a year.

[FourWheelDrift]

There are those that bring big personal sponsors and cash with them or come with engine supplies like Nakajima.

[jamiebae]

Alex97 said:

I think there used to be plenty of pay drivers. Pedro Diniz had that sort of arrangement I think (although I think rather than pay himself, he brought sponsors to the team). I seem to recall Nelson Piquet Jnr was the lowest paid this year, something like £200k a year.

Nelson was on $1.5m in 2008 and $1m in 2009 according to Autosport.

I think everyone on the grid is broadly there on merit, with the exception of Nakajaffa who (I understand) is there as a result of the Toyota engine deal.

In previous years a lot of the drivers brought big sponsors cheques in return for their drives but I don't think that is the case now.

[runway78]

jamiebae said:

In previous years a lot of the drivers brought big sponsors cheques in return for their drives but I don't think that is the case now.

Wonder if that situation will change with the likes of Litespeed and Campos new to F1. They would love to have experienced guys & young chargers alike on board like Pedro de la Rosa and Hulkenberg no doubt, but will they help them pay the bills? Doubt it. It is too late in the day for guys like Barichello and Heidfeld to get sponsors. They would probably consider it beneath them to pay for a drive too. 2010 could very well see the return of the pay driver to F1. Alex Yoong has his fingers crossed I am sure


If Piquet Jnr can find the backing, he could easily be buying his way into a drive within the next 48 months...

[jamiebae]

Who knows really. There are a few drivers who will naturally attract sponsors (Petrov, Chandhok etc) due to their nationality but I'm sure there are a good few in GP2 who will be happy to pay out of their own (or their family's) fortunes for a drive like previous back-of-the-grid no hopers.

[sjn2004]

jamiebae said:

Who knows really. There are a few drivers who will naturally attract sponsors (Petrov, Chandhok etc) due to their nationality but I'm sure there are a good few in GP2 who will be happy to pay out of their own (or their family's) fortunes for a drive like previous back-of-the-grid no hopers.

Wasn't Martini one of those (many years ago now).

[belleair302]

I think Flavio and Willi Weber both helped Eddie secure M Schumacher for a number of races. Never met such a charming bunch of 'spivs'.

[xspencex]

I'm sure Rubins paid when he was first in F1 with Jordan, think he only started to get paid when he was with Ferrari?

What about Sutil, he either pays or 'brings sponsorship'.

Edited by xspencex on Thursday 17th September 23:52

[dreamz]

yeah rubens did bring along sponsorship

his dad has some close links with the family who run the pepsi chain in brazil hence they had 7up sponsorship if i recall correctly

[entropy]

Bourdais

Only reason he raced this year was money.

Sato would've raced had he had more money than Bourdais.

[Jungles]

I think it's only Nakajima this year.

Sutil, I'm sure is a paid driver. He got his Spyker seat purely by merit, if I recall correctly.

[egomeister]

Jungles said:

I think it's only Nakajima this year.

Sutil, I'm sure is a paid driver. He got his Spyker seat purely by merit, if I recall correctly.

Sutil brings Medion sponsorship to FI, but no doubt he gets paid by the team.

I don't think there is anyone on the grid that isn't there on merit this year although no doubt a number of deals are made easier by the drivers bringing sponsorship.

[thestig84]

Alguersuari has repsol backing. Not become evident on the torro rosso yet but he definitely has it bringing in cash.

[FourWheelDrift]

dreamz said:

yeah rubens did bring along sponsorship

his dad has some close links with the family who run the pepsi chain in brazil hence they had 7up sponsorship if i recall correctly

Rubens never drove for Jordan when they had 7up sponsorship. That was only in 1991 when they had Gachot & deCesaris driving for them. One year deal only.

I believe Rubens' personal sponsor back then that he brought to Jordan in 1993 was the Brazilian company Arisco.

[n3il123]

dreamz said:

yeah rubens did bring along sponsorship

his dad has some close links with the family who run the pepsi chain in brazil hence they had 7up sponsorship if i recall correctly

Not sure whether that is the case as if I recall correctly Jordan had 7up sponsorship in their first year (1991) which Rubens didn't drive for them (started in 1993) ? Not doubting that he brought some readies when he did come though

ETA beaten too it!

Edited by n3il123 on Friday 18th September 10:06

[DSM2]

egomeister said:

Jungles said:

I think it's only Nakajima this year.

Sutil, I'm sure is a paid driver. He got his Spyker seat purely by merit, if I recall correctly.

Sutil brings Medion sponsorship to FI, but no doubt he gets paid by the team.

I don't think there is anyone on the grid that isn't there on merit this year although no doubt a number of deals are made easier by the drivers bringing sponsorship.

Taken a step further the question seems to be are there any drivers who wouldn't be there without the money they bring to the team via sponsors who wouldn't be there without them?

If that's the case I would say that it applies to Naka, Alguasuari, and possibly others. Grosjean only seems to be there in an effort to keep Renault involved and in the past it has also been the case for Piquet, Massa and probably Rosberg in recent years.

Having said that, it's always been so.............

[acf8181]

Its a bit hard to define....are quite a few drivers who 'bring' a sponsor, yet then get a salary, which do they class as?! Doesn't mean they only got the drive cause of the sponsor necessarily either, i guess its a balancing act for the team management.

[FourWheelDrift]

Timo Glock's personal sponsor is Deutsche Post (it was on the Jordans when he drove for them).
Trulli brings "Trulli's Wine" to Toyota

Vitay Petrov the GP2 driver who is in line for a drive with Campos next year will bring with him €15million of sponsorship.

[team underdog]

There's been very few drivers recently that haven't come into F1 via a manufacturer led driver scheme, or brought personal sponsorship of some kind to "sweeten the deal". I'm struggling to think of any actually that have earned it on merit alone! Raikkonen certainly, Kubica, Massa and Alonso didn't bring any money... Rosberg and Piquet brought famous names for the sponsors, but Rosberg is talented enough anyway IMO.

I would expect there to be far more pay drivers next year with new teams needing some extra funding. Judging by the driving standards in GP2, there's no shortage of drivers with more money than talent waiting for a chance to spank some wedge.