If you’re the sort of person who grinds their teeth at the thought of ‘influencers’ making easy money with Instagram promotions, look away now.
Or perhaps not, given these people also have much more exciting jobs. They’re Formula One drivers.
As you might expect, racing legend Lewis Hamilton is king of the F1 Instagram elite. His 12.4 million Instagram followers can earn him an estimated £40,590 per sponsored post.
Estimates by Celebrity Spend Comparison suggest those with 500,000 followers earn £1,667 per post on average. The estimated per-post earnings, including Hamilton’s, are based on multiples of this figure.
Hamilton leads his grid-mates by some way, both in the championship and in terms of social media earnings. Max Verstappen’s 2.4 million Instagram followers can earn him nearly £8,000 per sponsored post.
Mercedes team-mate and points runner-up Valtteri Bottas can rake in £3,630 per sponsored post, based on his 1.1 million followers.
In terms of annual salary, Lewis earns the average UK yearly wage (£29,588) in just nine hours, 46 minutes and 48 seconds.
If he emerges from the 2019 F1 season victorious, he will have six world titles to his name, just one behind seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher – the most successful Grand Prix driver of all time.
Yet another championship would be just the sort of thing that’s appropriate to celebrate in a £32 million New York penthouse. With that kind of talent and the performance he’s put in throughout his career, it’s well-earned.
