Mercedes reveals cost of winning 2019 title

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Everyone knows that competing in Formula 1 is a pretty expensive business, but now Mercedes has revealed just how much money it had to put into last year's title-winning campaign.

The team spent £309.7m in 2017 which rose to £311.4m the following year, and newly released figures show that the race team spent £333.2m in winning their sixth consecutive constructors world championship in 2019.

The big jump in expenditure was put down to the formation of the company's new Applied Science division, as well as getting a head start on development for 2021 when teams will have to keep within strict limits on expenditure.

The figure does not include the full cost of running the High Performance Powertrain facility that currently provides power units to Mercedes, Racing Point and Williams.

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The numbers underscore how much Mercedes will have to scale its operation back in order to meet next year's budget cap of $145m, although that figure doesn't include some notable big ticket items such as driver salaries.

The team will have to cut or redeploy a significant number of more than 1000 members of staff working at Brackley, with 35 added last year on the design, manufacturing and engineering side and a similar number in administration.

But despite the eye-watering figures involved in capturing the title, Mercedes actually came out in profit overall.

The team's income totalled £363.6m, which included money from corporate sponsorships and their share of F1's pot of prize money which is calculated in part on the final number of championship points won in a season.

Mercedes clinched last year's title with 739 points compared to 504 for Ferrari and 417 for Red Bull.

The team also received 23.6% of F1’s TV coverage in 2019

Team principal Toto Wolff said that the team intended to keep to its winning ways even in the face of tight new controls on expenditure which means it won't be able to 'spend its way out of trouble' in future.

“Mercedes aspires to win both championships for the seventh consecutive season while preparing the company to deliver maximum competitiveness under the new financial regulations that will be introduced from 2021,” he wrote in the company's results..

“The directors are proud and enthusiastic to be competing in the 2020 season and are committed to maintaining the impressive record of achievement since 2014.

“As a high technology business, the team can adapt competitively and commercially to changes in its operating environment.

"[We] will continue to invest in its capability and culture to ensure medium and long-term success both on and off track.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.