With Mercedes he has a contract worth two million (like Bortoleto) but with the bonuses and victories he will close at 14. Palazzi, president of StageUp: “He is the new Valentino Rossi”
The future Formula 1 world champion is one of the lowest paid drivers: Kimi Antonelli he is now one step away from a historic world title for Italian sport: the Bolognese would achieve a goal that an Italian rider hasn’t won for 73 years. It was 1953 and Alberto Ascari with Ferrari became world champion for the second consecutive time. Now Kimi is about to succeed, whose salary with Mercedes, two million euros a year, is equal to that of Gabriel Bortoleto and superior only to Oliver Bearman, Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto and Arvid Lindblad. The distance from Max Verstappen, the highest paid with 70 million received from Red Bull, is abysmal. But also the one from his Mercedes teammate, George Russell, who pockets 34. Yet, Antonelli leads the Drivers’ World Championship with a margin of 102 points over Russell himself, and has already archived 8 victories in the first 17 races of the seasonto which are also added two second and three third places, for an almost constant presence on the podium.
With bonuses at 14 million
With i bonuses expected by Mercedes for the results obtained, Kimi Antonelli would reach the 12 million dollarsand if he were to continue at this pace he could pocket it 14 million at the end of the seasona figure that would make him the seventh highest paid driver in the circus. Others add to the salary 1.5 million from personal sponsorships (IWC Schaffhausen, Monster Energy, Alpinestars and AKM Motorsport), so as to round the total to 15.5 million. The brand is continually growing and the hypothesis of a world title opens up unimaginable scenarios for the Emilian rider who has just turned twenty. If we think that Fernando Alonso is still racing in Formula 1 at 45 years old, a 25-year scenario opens up for Antonelli.
The growth of the brand
To understand what the economic and financial growth parameters of such a character are, we consulted Dr Giovanni Palazzi, president of StageUpan Italian consultancy, market research and technological innovation company, specialized in the sectors of sport, culture, entertainment and entertainment which has been operating since 2000 in partnership with institutes such as Ipsos and the Pavia Observatory. “Antonelli is a special case – explains Palazzi – I would say unique given that he can win a Formula 1 World Championship more than seventy years after Ascari. He enters an Olympus of few, also because he is winning the World Championship as a dominator and demonstrating great maturity. The progression he can have is similar to that of Valentino Rossi, but we start from a very different base because Formula 1 is a much more advanced business system compared to what motorbikes were at the time.” What are the aspects that make him attractive to sponsors? “There is an argument to be made because Kimi will have to adopt a managerial strategy that supports results. He will have to manage the relationship with Mercedes and with Toto Wolf who launched him, but now the rights are managed by Mercedes and in the future I believe this will change. Then there is the variable of sympathy: Kimi is the image of the good boy from Emilia, a reassuring point of view that opens up great horizons for him. But think that he is only twenty years old, he has a lot of time ahead of him in a world as rich as that of Formula!.
