Money Matters

Thrifty Scot: Paul Di Resta (Grand Prix Photo)

Top Value For Money Drivers

(Drivers' Championship rank)

1. Paul Di Resta (10)

2. Pastor Maldonaldo (8)

3. Sergio Perez (9)

4. Romain Grosjean (7)

5. Kimi Raikkonen (5)

6. Sebastian Vettel (2)

Mark Webber (2)

7. Nico Rosberg (4)

8. Lewis Hamilton (3)

9. Jenson Button (6)

10. Fernando Alonso (1)

If F1 drivers were ranked by comparing their results to their salaries the top three in the value for money standings would be Paul Di Resta, Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Perez. According to this accounting system - made possible by the recent publication of driver salaries expressed in euros (by Business Book GP 2012) - the Drivers' Championship after the first six races would be quite different from the official standings.

Di Resta, whose 21 points place him tenth overall in the championship, is a value for money superstar. His paltry salary of 200,000 euros is the second lowest in the field (Charles Pic is paid 150,000 by Marussia). With his 10,000 euros per race salary Di Resta has cost Force India a meagre 2857 euros per point scored.

Second overall in value for money performance (though he stands eighth in the championship) is Pastor Maldonado, who is paid just 400,000 euros by Williams yet has delivered 29 points, including a race win in Spain, for a team that last year scored no points at all. Moreover, Maldonado's contribution of many millions worth of sponsorship from the Venezuelan national oil company is the driving force that has enabled Williams to become a contender again.

The third biggest bargain for his team is Sergio Perez, who is paid 500,000 euros by Sauber and has scored 22 points (ranking him ninth in the championship). In addition to costing Sauber just 6,818 euros per point Perez brings with him several million euros of valuable Mexican sponsorship to bolster the budget of the Swiss-based team.

Both Maldonado and Perez have been disparaged as 'pay drivers', accused of having bought their way into the sport because they bring sponsorship funding to their teams. It could be argued that because their salaries are in effect paid for by the sponsorship money these drivers cost their teams nothing.

Fernando Alonso, currently leading the championship, is the highest paid driver, earning 30 million a year, or 1.5 million per race from Ferrari. But he ranks low in terms of value for salary, given that his tally of 76 points in the first six races has cost Ferrari 118,421 euros per point.

The worst performing driver is the most successful (and the wealthiest) in F1 history. Michael Schumacher's 2 points (lowest in the official standings) have cost Mercedes (who pay him 8 million a year) an embarrassing total of 2.4 million euros.