The wealthiest Formula 1 driver on Earth

There was a great deal of controversy surrounding Canadian driver Lance Stroll past year. In the opinion of many, his billionaire father would be the only leverage to the young driver's career. This opinion seems to prevail in many countries, except Canada, I suppose. Time - that is, the 2018 season - will tell whether or not Lance has any talent, for he will need it to get this latest Williams far up the grid.

However, this post is not about Lance. After all, Lance’s father is very  much alive, so Lance himself is not an extremely wealthy individual just yet. As the post is entitled "The wealthiest Formula 1 driver in the world", do the math.

Yes, I know a certain Bernard Ecclestone tried to qualify for the 1958 Monaco and British Grand Prix with an old Connaught-Alta. At the time a mere car dealer, Bernie was very optimistic to think that had any chance to start the race, for, among other things, there was a huge entry list that year. Bernie's competitive career is somewhat obscure. Ecclestone was not the only top Formula 1 team owner to have tried a career as a driver. Ken Tyrrell, Max Mosley, Frank Williams, Eddie Jordan, among others, also drove competitively without much success. Colin Chapman, in my opinion, could have been a good driver, and Enzo Ferrari was not a bad driver in the 20’s. On the other hand, multi-champion Alain Prost tried to own a F1 team and was a failure. Le Professeur was completely out of his element as team chief. To each his own.

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The world's richest former Formula One driver is neither Michael Schumacher nor Ayrton Senna's estate.  Not Jackie Stewart, either. Do not even think about Eddie Irvine, although he has been exemplary in terms of investing his money.

He is an Italian driver who did not do very well, at least in F1. He tried to qualify 15 times between 1989 and 1990, and actually ran 9 GPs with Minardi. At the time, F1 had an immense number of Italian pilots, among them Alboreto, Patrese, Nannini, so he did not stand out even among its countrymen. His best finish was a timid 11th. place. He won races in Italian F3, but when he tried his luck on the F-2 and F3000, he did not do well. However, in sports cars he had a reasonable resume. In fact, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours of 1985 with Klaus Ludwig and John Winter, other less expressive races, and also drove for the Lancia and Toyota teams.

His name, Paolo Barilla, who according to Forbes magazine, has a fortune of $ 1.3 billion. He and his brothers inherited the largest pasta maker in Italy, the homonymous Barilla.

You might be a tad disappointed that the guy's net worth was basically the result of inheritance. Be that as it may, he is by far the richest Formula 1 driver ever.

2020 UPDATE

Some people have taken exception to this post, stating that Bernie Ecclestone and Roger Penske were probably wealthier than Barilla.  As for the first, his fortune can be at best estimated. Penske's fortune has allegedly taken a hit as of late, and probably more so during the 2020 pandemic. As for pasta, people are still eating tons of it, all over the world. I also believe that Barilla at least tried to have a career as a race driver, which cannot be said of either Bernie and Roger, who were business people doing some driving on the side.

Some people have mentioned Revson(!), Pedro Diniz (!!!), and even Johnny Dumfries. I have no idea how much Prince Bira was worth, he might have been a more likely candidate.

Since the subject of money in racing apparently arises your interest, you should know that I have written an entire chapter on money in racing in my book Motor Racing in the 70s - Pivoting from Romantic to Organized. The issue is not discussed only in terms of Formula 1: Sports Car, Le Mans, USAC, NASCAR, Lower Formulae, Can AM, Interserie, Formula 5000, IROC Formula Super Vee, Touring Cars and other categories are also discussed, providing some rare facts and figures in regards to this issue. Hundreds of sources were researched for the book.

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The book is not only about money, of course. It has 472 pages, 242 photos, and provides highlights of global racing in the decade, with long lists of venues and drivers from 85 countries, hundreds of unknown manufacturers, short bios of main personalities from the period, essays on the main racing categories of the world, with applicable rare statistics. Some of the information will blow your mind away. 

Carlos de Paula is one of the top Brazilian Portuguese translators in the USA since 1982. And now a top Portuguese AI Translation editor as well. 

The age of change

Nowadays we talk a lot about the pace of change in all walks of life. It seems to me, though, that the era when there was the greatest amount of change in automobile racing was the 70s. I am basically talking about the tremendous volume of changes that had a lasting effect on racing.

Commercially, there was consolidation of sponsorship in Formula 1 and all other disciplines of racing. In 1970, a good number of GP teams had some form of commercial sponsorship, however, all teams were sponsored by 1979. Commercial sponsorship not only provided money to teams, but also made racing commercially interesting and sellable on TV, and TV made things more interesting to sponsors. Broadcasting also expanded greatly during the decade, especially in the third world. Thus, by the end of the decade, Bernie Ecclestone in F1 and NASCAR in F1 had began to expand live TV coverage of racing events. The early days of cable TV also provided more outlets and programming needs.

Turbocharging, although widely used in Indy car racing in the USA, began to be used in European racing on the early part of the decade. By 1979, a Renault powered F1 car had won its first event, by which time turbo engined cars were the rule in prototype and sports car racing.

It was also during the decade that circuit safety was taken seriously, through the efforts of many GP drivers such as Joakin Bonnier, Jackie Stewart and Emerson Fittipaldi. This lead to the death of the Nurburgring's Nordschleife as a GP venue. Additionally, the long Nurburgring was not suitable for TV coverage. This affected circuit design, and greatly reduced the number of motorsport deaths in the decades to come

In the USA, the old style USAC racing gave way to CART, which was founded in 1979. The new style Indycar racing, which lasts to this day, lessened the importance of oval tracks in American single seater racing.

Talking about old style, during the 70s, the Targa Florio was finally removed from the World Championship of Makes, although the race continue to be staged for a few more years. True road racing became a thing of the past, although rallyes thrived.

A lot of traditional races such as Vila Real in Portugal, and Chimay in Belgium, became things of the past, and in fact, a lot of old style circuits, such as Crystal Palace in London and Tulln Langelebarn in Austria were  closed for racing, while a number of modern circuits sprouted all over Europe and Worldwide, patterned after Paul Ricard, in France. The Tasman series, which achieved such prominence in the 60's, morphed into a regional series, which did not attract much in terms of international talent.

Formula 1 reached Asia for the first time in 1976, and Brazil became a force in racing, with a world champion (Emerson Fittipaldi) and a world Championship round. Non-championship Formula 1 races, fairly common early on the decade, also diminished into almost oblivion by the end of the decade.

Technologically speaking, the first steps in computer aided design were taken, these also being were the first day's of telemetry. The importance of aerodynamics in race car design also increased during the decade, and so did the use of wind tunnels. Whereas early on the decade cars were mostly designed by a single man, late in the decade design by committee was used in some corners.

In 1970, GP drivers' earnings were not very substantial, which lead them to accept as many engagements as possible. By 1979, many drivers were paid hefty retainers in Formula 1, and could actually afford to race exclusively in the category.