F1 is fast but running a team is not cheap

Just how expensive is it to run an F1 team?

Formula 1 is one of the world’s fastest sports, and thanks to increased popularity across the globe, the series remains one of the world’s most popular sports as well.

However, operating an F1 team is not an inexpensive proposition.

The latest evidence of that fact comes to us from Williams. Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, the F1 team’s operating company, submitted its annual report for 2023 at the end of September to Companies House, the branch of the British Government that is responsible for corporations acting within the United Kingdom. That report was made public on Wednesday and outlined just how expensive it is to run an F1 team.

According to the report, a copy of which was obtained and reviewed by SB Nation, for the year ending on December 31, 2023, revenue was £127.0 million, and the loss after tax was £84.2 million, an increase in the after-tax loss reported for 2022, which was £17.9 million. In United States dollars, that £84.2 figure is equivalent to approximately $110.5 million at the moment.

However, these numbers do require a bit of context. According to the company, “[w]hilst losses have increased compared with 2022, this in line with expectations and the Company’s strategy to continue investing in all areas of the business to drive both on-track and commercial performance in pursuit of success in the medium and long-term.”

The Company points to the team’s performance in 2022 — where they finished last in the F1 Constructors’ Championship — as the main reason for decreased revenue reported for 2023. “Revenue was lower in 2023 as a result of lower commercial rights revenue associated with finishing 10th in the 2022 Constructors’ Championship.”

The team finished eighth in 2021, but after finishing last in 2022 they rose to seventh in 2023, an improvement the team believes is due in large part to some of the investments they have made at the factory.

The Company also reported that they have assets of £67.3 million, which gives them “a sound financial base on which to continue the team’s long term strategy of returning to the front of the grid and being financially sustainable.”

At the moment Williams sits eighth in the 2024 Constructors’ Championship, three points ahead of ninth-place Alpine.

While the payout to F1 teams based on their finish in the Constructors’ Championship is a bit of a black box, estimates put the value of a seventh-place finish in the standings as £66 million, or approximately $87 million.

F1 might be fast, but operating a team is certainly not cheap.