Alonso could be F1’s highest earner in 2008

(GMM) Fernando Alonso will be formula one's highest earning driver if he stays at Renault beyond this year, according to a report.

The SportsPro magazine claims that the double world champion stands to make an average (US) $46 million per year, should he chose not to exercise a clause that allows him to depart the French team ahead of the 2009 season.

The $46m figure, negotiated by the 26-year-old Spaniard and his manager Luis Garcia Abad, was derived reportedly because it is symbolically $1 million more than Kimi Raikkonen's annual retainer for racing at Ferrari.

It is also more than double the 2007 salary of Alonso's former teammate at McLaren, Lewis Hamilton, SportsPro adds, and almost exactly twice what he earned at the British team last year.