Max Verstappen recently upgraded to a $50 million jet, which is surely to maintain his glamorous life as an F1 driver. However, he is just one of the two on the 20-driver grid who can afford to keep a private jet. And, owning a jet isn’t purely a luxury for an F1 driver considering how many miles they cover each year for Grand Prix races.
George Russell falls in the majority group, who take regular flights to hop countries and continents for races. Despite being a Mercedes driver and earning around $15 million a year, Russell can’t afford a jet right now. He revealed this when asked about who is most and least likely to miss their flight while traveling for race weekends.
He ratted out Alex Albon as the one most likely to miss the plane. On the other hand, he agreed that Verstappen and Fernando Alonso were the least likely to miss their flights because they own their jets.
When asked if he had his jet, Russell denied it, saying, “I don’t have my own jet. I’ve just got my own first car.”
4x F1 World Champion Max Verstappen has recently upgraded his air travel accommodations with a $42 million Dassault Falcon 8X.
Max bought his first jet, a Dassault Falcon 900EX, for $15m from Virgin tycoon Richard Branson. pic.twitter.com/Ds4IdgBhUO
— Vincenzo Landino (@vincenzolandino) February 10, 2025
While Russell might not have his jet, F1 teams usually have their airline sponsors. In Mercedes’ case, there isn’t one listed on their website, but surely they would be taking care of his flights — or perhaps he could hitch a ride with Alonso or Verstappen.
While F1 drivers earn millions, there is still a vast disparity between the highest earners and the rest. In some cases, many owe money to backers for years despite being in F1.
F1 drivers often have to pay others once they make it
To make it to the top of Formula 1, aspirational drivers usually have to fund their way until they secure a team to sponsor them. It’s no secret that even participating in karting is an expensive affair. Russell once revealed in the Beyond the Grid podcast in 2023 that his family almost sold their house to fund his career.
“We had no more money to go beyond Formula 3, and that was a very tense year because that was the year when I could also comprehend that this was almost like my last opportunity. My family cannot support that, and I would not want them to sell the house to give me that opportunity.”
Fortunately, it did not come to that. Since 2017, Russell has been supported by Mercedes, but before that, his father funded his fledgling racing career.
In such cases, drivers’ families usually seek personal sponsors who are willing to fund them but often expect returns once the driver makes it. Nyck de Vries, for example, was obligated to pay 50% of his earnings from AlphaTauri and also repay a $270,000 loan with an agreed interest of 3% to his sponsors from F2 after a court ruled against him.
Such arrangements are common in motorsports. However, there is no information about Russell having a similar agreement with any party before joining Mercedes’ academy.
