Excluding the costs associated with personnel, building the race cars, transportation all over the globe, hospitality, and whatever else Formula One teams spend ridiculous money on, there are the costs to just enter the championship in the first place. Since 2013, teams have paid an entry fee for the year based on how many points it scored the prior season. That price per point is calculated based on the U.S. Consumer Price Index.
According to motorsport.com, every single team, regardless of points earned, is required to pay a base amount of $546,133. Above and beyond that, the prior year’s constructors’ champion must pay $6553 per point earned, while all other teams pay just $5459 per point earned. I’ve never owned a car worth more than three FIA world championship points.
Here are the points totals and corresponding entry fee each team must pay to enter in 2019.
Mercedes: 655 points - $4,838,348
Ferrari: 571 points - $3,663,222
Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer: 419 points - $2,833,454
Renault: 122 points - $1,212,131
Haas-Ferrari: 93 points - $1,053,820
McLaren-Renault: 62 points - $884,591
Racing Point Force India-Mercedes: 52 points - $830,001
Sauber-Ferrari: 48 points - $808,165
Scuderia Toro Rosso- Honda: 33 points - $726,280
Williams-Mercedes: 7 points - $584,346
Interestingly, because Force India re-branded ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, and only scored 52 points following that re-brand (which came with a re-entry to the championship and a forfeiture of all points earned up to that point, which determines each team’s share of the year end television revenue) they are only forced to pay the entry fee this year based on those 52 points, and not the additional 59 points the prior version of the team earned.
Damn, racing is expensive, y’all.