What is Lewis Hamilton's Net Worth?
Lewis Hamilton is a British Formula One racing driver who has a net worth of $300 million. Lewis Hamilton started his F1 career with McLaren. Hamilton won his first F1 Championship in 2008 with McLaren, becoming the youngest-ever Formula One World Champion at the time. He joined Mercedes in 2013 and went on to win six additional Championships (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020). On February 1, 2024, it was revealed that Lewis would jump from Mercedes to rival Ferrari at the end of the 2024 season.
Salary & Contracts
Lewis is one of the highest-paid F1 drivers in the world and one of the highest-paid athletes overall. In a typical year, he makes $70-90 million, the majority of which comes from his Mercedes contract that pays $60 million per year.
In July 2023, Lewis signed a two-year contract with Mercedes that would pay him $60 million per year for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Unfortunately for Mercedes, Lewis opted to break the contract after just one season and will instead move to Ferrari for the 2025 season. Lewis will reportedly make up to $107 million per year racing for Ferrari.
Between June 2016 and June 2017, Lewis Hamilton earned around $50 million from endorsements and prize money. Between June 2017 and June 2018, he earned $51 million. In the following 12-month period, he earned $55 million.
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Early Life
Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton was born on January 7, 1985, in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. His mom, Carmen, is caucasian, and his father, Anthony, is black. Hamilton self-identifies as black. His parents separated when he was two, and he lived with his mom and half-sisters until he was 12. Hamilton then went to live with his dad, stepmother, and half-brother Nicolas. Hamilton took up karate as self-defense when he was five. He was bullied at school. When he was six, his dad bought him a radio-controlled car. The following year, Hamilton finished second at the British Radio Car Association championship. When he was six, he received a go-kart for Christmas from his dad. Anthony Hamilton promised to support his son's burgeoning racing career as long as he stayed in school and worked hard at his academics. Lewis attended the Catholic secondary school, The John Henry Newman School in Hertfordshire. He also played football (soccer) in school. He studied at Cambridge Arts and Sciences starting in early 2001.
Career
As the story goes, Lewis Hamilton walked up to Ron Dennis, the McLaren racing team principal, and told him, "I want to race for you one day… I want to race for McLaren one day." That's a ballsy thing for any young driver to say. It's especially ballsy when the person saying it is ten years old.
In 1998, Hamilton signed up with the McLaren Young Driver program. He became an official Formula One McLaren driver in 2007. He is the first and only black racecar driver in the sport. He finished as the runner-up to Kimi Räikkönen in the 2007 season. In 2008, Hamilton won the F1 World Championship for the first time, securing the victory in the last race of the season. He signed to drive for Mercedes in 2013. Hamilton won back-to-back World Championships titles in 2014 and 2015. Hamilton won consecutive titles for the second time in his career in 2017 and 2018 and then again in 2019. He's won seven World Championships as of this writing, moving him into a tie with Michael Schumacher for the most.
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In 2018, Hamilton launched a clothing line, TOMMYXLEWIS, during New York Fashion Week with American fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger alongside models Winnie Harlow and Hailey Baldwin.
During his career, Lewis Hamilton has courted controversy for maneuvers on the track and remarks off of it. He is very much in the public spotlight, and his words are often closely scrutinized.
While racing in Spain, he was the victim of racial abuse from some Spanish supporters. His close rivalry with Spanish driver Fernando Alonso was responsible for encouraging Spanish supporters to direct abuse at Hamilton. He admits he is very competitive, and this sometimes causes tension with other drivers.
The week before the 2018 German Grand Prix, Hamilton signed a two-year contract extension with Mercedes. It was reported to be worth nearly $50 million per year.
In June 2020, Hamilton revealed that he would be racing in a brand new, all-black Mercedes in support of Black Lives Matter. Hamilton has been vocal about the lack of diversity in Formula One racing. The car, called the Black Arrow, was designed by Hamilton and made its debut in Austria over the 4th of July weekend as the delayed Formula One season finally got in gear.
In 2022, there were significant changes in technical regulations, which led to new car designs and struggled for much of the season. Hamilton achieved nine podium finishes but failed to win a race or achieve a pole position for the first time in his Formula One career.
Personal Life
In November 2007, Hamilton started dating Nicole Scherzinger, the lead singer of the American girl band the Pussycat Dolls. They broke up to focus on their respective careers in early 2010 but were spotted together at that year's Turkish and Canadian Grands Prix. The couple split up and reunited several times between 2011 and 2015 before finally splitting up for good in February 2015.
After his split from Scherzinger, he was rumored to have dated long-time friend Rihanna for a while. He's also rumored to have dated Rita Ora, Miss Finland Lotta Hinsa, Miss Grenada 2007 Vivian Burkhardt, model Winnie Harlow, Hungarian model Barbara Palvin, and Sofia Richie. He was romantically linked to Nicki Minaj as well. The two took a romantic vacation to Dubai together.
Hamilton is vegan.
Lewis Hamilton has been criticized by some MPs for avoiding paying U.K. taxes by living out of the country.
Hamilton was named after Olympic sprint champion Carl Lewis.
Hamilton, an Arsenal fan, said that if he didn't have a career in Formula One, he would have been a footballer or a cricketer — he played both in high school.
In 2022, Lewis announced that he was in the process of legally changing his name to include his mother's maiden name, Larbalestier, as a middle name.
In June 2022, Hamilton was made an honorary citizen of Brazil when politician Andre Figueiredo's proposal was passed in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies.
In September 2022, Hamilton launched Team X44 to compete in the all-electric SUV off-road racing series Extreme E. Team X44 finished second in the inaugural Extreme E championship and, in January 2022, were crowned winners of the Extreme E Sustainability Award. They won the 2022 Championship, beating RXR, who were disqualified from the race.
Also, in 2022, Hamilton joined the newly established ownership group of the Denver Broncos.
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Real Estate
In 2019, Hamilton listed his New York penthouse for $57 million. Located in the same Tribeca building that Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, Meg Ryan, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Bella Hadid live in, the 8,900-square-foot unit is the largest penthouse loft in the building. Hamilton bought it for $43.9 million in 2017. In December 2021, he sold this property for $50 million. He reportedly never lived in the unit… possibly because he ALSO owns a penthouse located not far away at 70 Vestry Street which he ALSO acquired in 2019 for $40.7 million.
Hamilton owns a four-story mansion with six bedrooms in Kensington, West London, that was built in 1860 and is worth $25 million.
Hamilton also owns apartments in Nyon, a suburb of Geneva, Switzerland, and in Monaco, and has an estate in Colorado where he plans to live after his retirement.
Personal Car Collection
Based on the cars he has shown on social media or has confirmed to officially own, Lewis Hamilton's car collection is worth at least $40 million. His 1995 McLaren F1 alone is worth around $20 million. Below are some of the most significant cars found in his collection:
- 1995 McLaren F1 – $20 million
- Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta $4.1 million
- Ferrari LaFerrari – $4 million
- Mercedes-AMG One – $2.7 million
- McLaren P1 – $1.8 million
- 1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 – $1.4 million
- Mercedes-AMG SLS Black – $270,000
- AC 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 – $100,000
Total for just these eight cars: $34.4 million
