Few, if any, backroom boys make as much money, or more, as the frontline drivers in Formula One.
One exception is Red Bull technical mastermind Adrian Newey, the shy but quietly authoritative boffin whose expertise is universally envied and who, at the merest drop of a hint, would be snapped up by any rival grand prix team.
Ferrari make no secret of their desire to lure Newey away from Red Bull if only the 53-year-old would abandon his current domain for the kingdom of the Italian legends. Stefan Domenicali, head of the Prancing Horse outfit, says from his Marabello HQ in Italy: "Adrian is one of the best, if not the best, technician in F1. Any team would be interested in him."
Newey, the brains behind the world-beating car that has swept all before it and carried wonderboy Sebastian Vettel to two successive world titles and the team to the constructors' championship, is paid $10 million (Dh36.7 million)-a-year, plus mighty bonuses, and has two years left on his current contract.
Red Bull recognise his genius and are, quite naturally, anxious to hold onto their treasured talent as he schemes yet another season of triumph for his re-designed car.
The team's leader, Christian Horner, who sits by Newey's side on the pitwall, opines: "It is understandable that any team would want him — but he is very much enjoying his life with Red Bull and he will be here for a long time to come."
That view could be dismissed as wishful thinking on Horner's behalf, designed rather more to underpin his own desires and hopes than those of his ingenious workmate behind the scenes.
Newey, who has triumphed as the world's greatest technical thinker with three teams, having transformed Williams, then McLaren and now Red Bull, and won titles galore, refuses to be lured either by the intense flattery or the opportunity to earn even bigger wages at Ferrari.
Staying put
And only this week, after an intensive, self-imposed heavy off-season workload putting the finishing design touches to the 2012 Red Bull challenger, as the teams give their cars a first run-out in Jerez, Spain, Newey emphasised his determination to stay put in typically modest style. He said: "It is flattering if people rate the work I do so highly. But that is not why I get out of bed every morning — I do it because I enjoy the design challenge of Formula One.
"Yes, I have had offers from Ferrari, and I have seriously considered them. But F1 is a ‘people' sport and not a ‘marque' sport and working for Ferrari just for the sake of working for Ferrari, a great name, is not something I would be content to do.
"And to be perfectly honest I cannot see myself going anywhere else other than Red Bull... It has given me a paternal feeling of wanting to carry on and to leave now for another team would be like walking out on your own children."
The author is a motorsport expert based in England