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Performance-related bonuses for F1 drivers (13 posts)

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Michael said 6 months, 3 weeks ago:

Just curious, what are the usual performance related bonuses for F1 drivers?

For instance, I imagine that Vettel and Webber have performance bonus clauses for winning the WCC championship and each winning the WDC championship.

BUT would it make sense that Webber and Vettel have a performance bonus clause for the other driver winning the WDC?

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raymondu999 said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

RBR as I understand it are very unique. Most other teams just operate on a fixed salary, but RBR operates on extremely low retainers, but with quantitative bonuses. ie, Vettel and Webber gain X amount bonus for every points, Y amount for every podium, Z amount for every win, and of course – a mother amount for the title.

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Michael said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

@raymondu999 that’s interesting – how do you know all that stuff?

I would not be surprised if Webber stands to make a couple of million should Vettel win the WDC – if I were Horner I would have structured his contract in such a manner. That way he would have an incentive to help Vettel win and get out of his way if needed – same for Vettel of course.

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raymondu999 said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

@freelittlebirds I don’t remember specifically how I came across that nugget of information, but it was something that came to light in late 2009.

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GeeMac said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

@raymondo999 I think you are right, I remember hearing that a while back too. As far as I know RBR are the only team which uses this “low salary/high performance bonus” structure.

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kthxrawr said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

According to James Allen, for most teams it’s 70% retainer, 30% bonus, but Red Bull are more like 40% retainer, 60% bonus. This is a couple of years out of date now, so who knows how true it still is.

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Bob said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

I read last year (sorry, can’t remember where) that the majority of Vettel’s salary is his performance bonus. His basic pay is apparently quite low by F1 standards. So the Red Bull pay structure ought to be similar to what James Allen described.

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Michael said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

So I would imagine that Webber stands to win a few milion from Vettel winning the WDC and vice versa especially after Turkey 2010…

The reason I’m asking is I was trying to figure out if there was a financial motive as to why Mark Webber turned into Maldonado at Abu Dhabi in the last half of the race. It was the only explanation and in fact the most likely one.

I love how Marco is now saying bad things about Webber – like anyone is buying that…

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Bob said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

Webber turning into Maldonado? Not quite. Sure, some of his moves were iffy, and his driving as a whole poor by his standards, but he’s still a ways from full-on Maldonado madness. (And to be fair to Pastor, his driving has improved since then.) As for whether there was a financial motive, I believe the more likely explanation is that Webber, mathematically eliminated from the title race, figured he had nothing to lose.

The performance bonus is presumably an incentive for the individual drivers to perform – reward for work, work for reward. That way, if both drivers excel, RBR maximize constructor points earned. It’s a way of guaranteeing that the team gets ahead in the WCC, and the drivers get up there in the WDC.

Webber has always accepted team orders reluctantly. Why would he would be so unwilling if there was monetary incentive for supporting Vettel?

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Michael said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

@Bob I believe Webber has accepted team orders reluctantly only when he was in the running for the WDC. I’m pretty sure tha Webber stands to make quite a bit of money if Vettel wins the WDC – if I were Horner I would have made sure of that.

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jon said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

But are they really the sort of people to be inspired by cash? Bearing in mind they are already millionaires anyway?

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Bob said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

It does make sense – Webber receiving a bonus as a sort of “thank you for complying”. But I’m not completely convinced he was driving erratically at Abu Dhabi solely for money’s sake. Webber and Hamilton are fighting for 4th place in the WDC, which would factor into Webber’s own performance bonus. Unless the supposed bonus for helping Vettel is much more substantial than his own results-based incentive (a possibility, I must admit), I don’t see Webber throwing away points just like that.

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raymondu999 said 6 months, 2 weeks ago:

To my knowledge there is no such arrangement anywhere. There is no “bonus for WDC-winning teammate” agreement, at least that I’m aware of. There is obviously a bonus for helping to win the WCC, but not helping your teammate the WDC, to my understanding.

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