Mercedes forks out record amount to cover F1 entry fee

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The Mercedes AMG F1 team will pay its biggest F1 entry fee ever next season, thanks to its success in 2019.

All F1 teams must disburse a flat fee of $556,509 for the privilege of taking part in the world championship, but that amount is boosted for each team by an additional fee structure currently set at $5,563 per point scored in the 2019 season.

However, as the winner of the Constructors' championship, Mercedes must add on $6,677 per point, bringing its total entry fee to a hefty $5,490,812, or more than $2,000,000 more than Ferrari, the second-best team in the championship in 2019.

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Mercedes has dominated F1's hybrid era, winning six consecutive world Constructors' titles. Its highest points tally was in 2016, when it scored 765 points, or 26 points more than in 2019.

Yet its total entry fee for 2017 was lower at $4,738,410.

Why? Because the FIA has factored in an inflation rate in the past two years based on the US Consumer Price Index and applied it to its points-based fee.

At the other end of the entry fee spectrum, Williams, which scored just a single point in 2019, courtesy of Robert Kubica in Germany, will pay the relatively modest amount - in F1 terms - of just $562,072 to race in the 2020 F1 world championship.

Here's the complete fee structure for each team for the 2020 season.

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.