The latest Forbes list of the ‘World’s Highest-Paid’ Athletes sees a huge fall for Formula 1 star Fernando Alonso from the previous year’s listing, where he was ranked 20th among the Top 100 earners.
The Spaniard is ranked a joint 39th in this year’s list on the basis of the calculation made on his earnings between June 1, 2017 and June 1, 2018. His total earnings stands at $33 million of which $32 million is salary, while $1 million is endorsements.
His salary sees a drop of $4 million from last year with endorsements going down by $1 million despite the Spaniard racing in the Indy500 last year and also signing a full-time contract with Toyota to race in the World Endurance Championship this season.
The top earner from the world of motor racing continues to be Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, even though he has fallen by two places to 12th from the previous list. His total earnings sees a jump of $5 million to $51 million in the calculated period.
It is largely due to his salary increasing from $38 million to $42 million and endorsements increment by $1 million to a total of $9 million. The only other racer in the list is Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who drops to 18th from 14th.
Despite the drop, he has also seen an increase in his total earnings by $3.8 million to $42.3 million – again due to an increment in salary from $38 million to $42 million. His endorsement income though has fallen to 300k from 500k.
With the NBA stars seeing a huge increment in their salaries, the two other racers to be featured in the list last year, NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson (93rd) and Dale Earnhardt Jr (100th) no longer find a place in the Top 100 list.
The calculation by Forbes’ expert team takes the endorsement income as an estimate of sponsorships, appearance fees and licensing incomes for the 12-month period – which is taken into account on the basis of conversations made with the insiders.
The tax deductions or agents’ fees and investment incomes made by the athletes during the same period are not included in the above calculation. Boxer Floyd Mayweather displaced footballer Cristiano Ronaldo from the top spot to become the highest earner.