A recent Formula 1 audit has given some interesting insight into the drivers’ social media activity, and has revealed that Sir Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris are the highest earners per Instagram post in the sport.
Regarding raw followers, Hamilton has hit just over 27 million despite his conspicuous absence over the winter break following his heart-breaking championship defeat to Max Verstappen, and there is then a massive gap back to the Dutchman who is on eight million in second place.
The 37-year-old is certainly going to be the winner of popularity contests in most faucets of life, but particularly so in the pinnacle of motorsport.
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A significant part of earning money on social media is of course signing brand partnerships. Norris and teammate Daniel Ricciardo recently did a promotional activity for delivery company Geopuff to commemorate their partnership with McLaren, and Norris makes up 16 of the 70 sponsored activities carried out between himself, Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.
Regarding the teams, Haas lead the way for engagement at present with 4.06%, and HyperAuditor, who carried out the analysis, believe that this mostly due to the media storm surrounding the team following the sacking of Nikita Mazepin after Russia waged war in Ukraine.
They also re-signed Kevin Magnussen, who left at the end of the 2020 season following six years in two spells that also included McLaren and Renault, and it sent fans into a frenzy.
Alfa Romeo made plenty of entertaining content with Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi last year, and they attract an engagement rate of 3.66% following the arrival of Valtteri Bottas, who made himself quite the TikTok star on Mercedes’ account last year.
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Unsurprisingly, Mercedes lead the way on Instagram with nine million followers, and their seven-time champion driver Hamilton reels in $225,000 per post due to his partnerships, while Norris takes in an average of $143,000 every time he does a sponsored post.
Hamilton is also reported to be the highest-paid driver in F1 today, earning circa $55 million a year, and this is expected to be rivalled by Verstappen when he enters his next Red Bull contract in 2024 and begins earning an estimated $50 million a year.