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How Much Does It Cost to Run a Formula 1 Team? A Whole Lot, Apparently

Let’s be frank for a moment - during our early years, us guys with a passion for Formula 1 dreamt of putting those red overalls and go racing at Monza for the Scuderia Ferrari. It’s one of the biggest fantasies boys have when they’re young and full of dreams.
Business of F1 infographic by Raconteur.net 4 photos
Photo: http://raconteur.net/
Business of F1 infographic by Raconteur.netBusiness of F1 infographic by Raconteur.netBusiness of F1 infographic by Raconteur.net
But then come the responsibilities of a phase in life I like to call young adulthood and that’s that: less dreaming, more... maturity. You give up the racing driver fantasy and start focusing on your 9 to 5 desk job in order to make a living. The end.

But even in their 30s, us guys never forget how glamorous and dangerous the world of Formula 1 is. Regarding the “dangerous” part, I’m not just referring to high-speed crashed, but also big stacks o’ money.

London-based publishing house Raconteur has recently made an infographic of how much does it cost living in the fast lane. To put it bluntly, you need around £158 million (translating to $235.4 million or €218.1 million at today’s rates) to run a Formula 1 team competitively for a full season. Yup, that much...

The photo gallery below shows three infographics with all the data Raconteur.net has put together, but first let me talk you through the most important year-round expenditures of a Formula 1 outfit.

The team budget’s can be divided in four categories: R&D expenditures (£41M / $61M / €56.59M), salaries (£42M / $62.58M / €57.97M), production costs (£39M / $58.11M / €53.83M) and the ever-important operations costs (£36M / $53.64M / €49.69M).

According to the publication, the component cost of a Formula 1 car in the 2015 season sits at £6 million ($8.94M / €8.28M). The V6 Turbo Hybrid Power Unit (£3.5M / $52,15M / €48.31M), the carbon fiber monocoque (£1M / $1.49M / €1.38M) and the transmission (£750,000 / $1.11M / €1.03M) are the most expensive components of them all.

As for team sponsorships costs per area of the car, the rear wing, side pods and airbox of an Formula 1 racer are each sold for a whopping £17 million, equating to approximately $25.3M or €23.46M. Follow this link to read the full Raconteur report on the business of F1.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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