The driver salaries for ꦑevery competitor in F1🐽 2009 have been published, containing a number of surprises - most notably the discrepancy in team-mate pay in some cases, and also the staggering gap between what the highest-paid driver receives and the pay packet of the next man on the list...

Ahead of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend around the all-new, spectacular Yas Marina street circuit, Arabian Business has revealed the salary list, which is perhaps unsurprisingly t൲opped by former world champions Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari, 2007), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes, 2008) and Fernando Alonso (Renault, 2005/2006).

More of a shock, perhaps, is the $27 million margin between Raikkonen's retainer an⛎d that of Hamilton, and the $37 million that the Finn earned over injured Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa, who is bidding to return to the fray in 2010 following his terrifying high-speed Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying accident back in late July.

The figure also perhaps sheds some light upon Raikkonen's current predicament, with potential suitors McLaren and Toyota r🦩eportedly baulking at the 30-year-old's financial demanওds for next season, and the 18-time grand prix-winner apparently unwilling to lower his expectations.

Newly-crowned 2009 F1 World Champion Jenson Button, meanwhile, was paid just $5 million over the cour♓se of his title-winning campaign - albeit $4 million more than Brawn G💎P team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who seemingly received less even than Scuderia Toro Rosso rookie S?bastien Buemi - after taking a substantial cut last winter in order to enable the Brackley-based outfit to survive the post-Honda F1 fallout. The British star and his team remain locked in stalled discussions over his 2010 salary - as the 29-year-old believes his achievements this year merit a return to his erstwhile retainer at the very least.

Aside from Raikkonen, Hamilton and Alonso, similarly ahead of Button on the list are Brawn-bound Williams star Nico Rosberg, Massa, Toyota veteran Jarno Trulli and Red Bull Racing pairing Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Whilst four drivers on the grid - Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Romain Grosjean (Renault) and Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi (both Force India F1) - went unpaid, the total s💙alaries nonetheless equalled a mind-numbing $134.8 million, or to put it another way, an average of $6.4 million per driver.

"There may be a global recession going on," remarked Tom Rubython, who compiled the list, "but being an F1 driver means you earned🌸 a fortune this year. These figures are just basic salaries, and don't include spons♕orship and other income, which can often be three times that amount."

Full list of F1 2009 driver salaries:

1. Kimi Raikkonen $45m
2. Lewis Hamilton $18m
3. Fernando Alonso $15m
4. Nico Rosberg $8.5m
5. Felipe Massa $8m
6. Jarno Trulli $6.5m
7. Sebastian Vettel $6m
8. Mark Webber $5.5m
9. Jenson Button $5m
10. Robert Kubica $4.5m
11. Heikki Kovalainen $3.5m
12. Nick Heidfeld $2.8m
13. Timo Glock $2m
14. Giancarlo Fisichella $1.5m
15. S?bastien Buemi $1.5m
16. Rubens Barrichello $1m
17. Jaime Alguersuari $0.5m
18. Vitantonio Liuzzi $Nil
19. Adrian Sutil $Nil
20. Romain Grosjean $Nil
21. Kazuki Nakajima $Nil

What the F1 teams spent on drivers in 2009:

1.Ferrari $53m
2.McLaren-Mercedes $21.5m
3.Renault $15m
4.Red Bull Racing $11.5m
5.Toyota $8.5
6.Williams $8.5m
7.BMW-Sauber $7.3m
8.Brawn GP$6m
9.Scuderia Toro Rosso $2m
10.Force India $1.5m