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Sure, the season's over even with one more race this weekend, but there's still plent of competition to be had - over driver's salaries!

Ahead of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Arabian Business (c'mon, you know it, you read it, you love it), has revealed the salary list, which is perhaps unsurprisingly topped by former world champions Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari, 2007), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes, 2008) and Fernando Alonso (Renault, 2005 and 2006).

More of a shock is the £16.4 million margin - sorry you sucks, I'm not going to convert all the £ to $ (it's 1 UK£ = 1.6547 U.S.$) - between Raikkonen's retainer and that of Hamilton, and the £22.5m that he earned over injured Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa. Which he deserves because he not only didn't get faced by a metal spring, but also drove through fire in Brazil because nothing can stop him. The numbers also sheds some light upon Raikkonen's current predicament, with potential suitors McLaren and Toyota reportedly baulking at his financial demands 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 £3m over the course of his title-winning campaign - albeit £2.4m more than Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello, who seemingly received less even than Scuderia Toro Rosso rookie Sebastien Buemi - after taking a substantial cut last winter in order to enable the outfit to survive it's post-Honda F1 fallout.

Button and his team remain locked in stalled discussions over his 2010 salary - as he believes his achievements merit a return to his erstwhile retainer at the very least. Also ahead of Button on the list are Brawn-bound Williams star Nico Rosberg, Massa, Toyota veteran Jarno Trulli and the Red Bull Racing pair of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Meanwhile, four drivers on the grid - Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Romain Grosjean (Renault) and Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi (both Force India F1) - went unpaid. If you were to look at their performances, you can understand why.

Don't forget these figures are just basic salaries, and don't include sponsorship and other income.

F1 2009 driver salaries:

1. Kimi Raikkonen £27.35m

2. Lewis Hamilton £10.9m

3. Fernando Alonso £9.1m

4. Nico Rosberg £5.15m

5. Felipe Massa £4.85m

6. Jarno Trulli £3.95m

7. Sebastian Vettel £3.65m

8. Mark Webber £3.35m

9. Jenson Button £3.05m

10. Robert Kubica £2.75m

11. Heikki Kovalainen £2.1m

12. Nick Heidfeld £1.7m

13. Timo Glock £1.2m

14. Giancarlo Fisichella £0.9m

15. Sébastien Buemi £0.9m

16. Rubens Barrichello £600,000

17. Jaime Alguersuari £300,000

18. Vitantonio Liuzzi £0

19. Adrian Sutil £0

20. Romain Grosjean £0

21. Kazuki Nakajima £0

What F1 teams spent on drivers in 2009:

1. Ferrari £32.2m

2. McLaren-Mercedes £13.05m

3. Renault £9.1m

4. Red Bull Racing £7m

5. Toyota £5.15m / Williams £5.15m

7. BMW-Sauber £4.45m

8. Brawn GP £3.65m

9. Scuderia Toro Rosso £1.2m

10. Force India £900,000