Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton is among the top ten on Forbes’ list of athletes with the highest income in 2020.
Despite COVID-19, according to the latest list published by Forbes, Hamilton deposited a cool $ 82 million for his efforts to win his seventh title and help his Mercedes team win fourteen F1 World Championships in seven years.
Forbes reports, “For much of 2020, the world’s top athletes had to take pause, work for reduced wages, play in empty spaces or be isolated in competition bubbles to prevent a pandemic that wasted billions of dollars on professional sports.
“Still, things couldn’t be better for the best of the best – at least in terms of their financial strength.
“The top ten highest paid athletes in the world took home gross profit before tax of $ 1.05 billion in the past 12 months, 28% more than last year. The combined route is just a few million short of the $ 1.06 billion record set in 2018, the 12-month window in which boxer Floyd Mayweather made $ 285 million, almost all of his pay-per -View fight 2017 with Conor McGregor. “
While Hamilton made less than half of McGregor’s gold treasure, it was still an impressive stretch for the Stevenage boy whose mastery of his chosen sport not only made him most successful, made him one of the greatest and now is certainly the highest paid F1 driver of all time.
Notably, only two of the athletes in Forbes’ top ten earners for 2020 are under 30.
The 36-year-old Hamilton is expected to sign a new contract with Mercedes by August, the terms of which will determine whether the reigning world champion will be on the Forbes list again in 2021 with a record-breaking eighth world title on the cards.
Here are Forbes’ top 10 sports earners in 2020:
- Conor McGregor, UFC: $ 180 million
- Lionel Messi, Barcelona: $ 130 million
- Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus: $ 120 million
- Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys: $ 107.5 million
- LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers: $ 96.5 million
- Neymar, Paris Saint-Germain: $ 95 million
- Roger Federer, tennis: $ 90 million
- Lewis Hamilton, F1: $ 82 million
- Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $ 76 million
- Kevin Durant, Brooklyn Nets: $ 75 million
