Best-paid driver in F1 2011 - revealed

Michael Schumacher comes in first for a change - at least in terms of motorsport stars beating Fernando Alonso, Valentino Rossi and Lewis Hamilton et al.

Robert Wilkins_1

10 Jun 2011

The world's top-earning athletes were named by Forbes magazine this week, with three F1 world champions making the top 15, although one of them didn't even win a race last year...

Yeah, you've guessed it, it's record breaking multiple F1 world champion, Michael Schumacher and interestingly, according to the publication, he earned $34 million between May 2010 to May 2011. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton meanwhile, who were both in contention for the F1 2010 drivers' title until the finale in Abu Dhabi last year, finished behind - although only just, pulling in $32 million and $30 million respectively in the same period.

Schumacher was ninth overall in the list, which takes into consideration 'salary, bonuses, prize money, appearance fees, licensing and endorsement income'. Alonso came in eleventh and Hamilton was 15th.

Golf ace Tiger Woods took top spot - with $75 million worth of earnings - while MotoGP superstar, Valentino Rossi was joint 13th (on $31 million) and NASCAR men Dale Earnhardt Jr ($28.5m) and Jeff Gordon ($24.9m) were 17th and 26th respectively.