With Red Bull returning to the top of the Formula One world in 2022, earning their first Constructors’ Championship since the 2013 season, it meant the return of the trophy itself to Red Bull. Along with the Red Bull badge being placed on the trophy, breaking a string of Mercedes logos.
Red Bull’s 2022 F1 title means a big bill is due for 2023
Sticker shock for Red Bull as the bill comes due for their 2022 F1 title
Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
Mark Schofield is a former college quarterback and attorney covering the NFL and F1.
It also meant something else.
A big bill to be paid for the 2023 F1 season.
According to F1’s regulations, each team must pay a basic entry fee for the 2023 season. Under the regulations, the basic fee for each team is $617,687, which gets indexed by the United States Consumer Price Index.
Furthermore, the teams must then add to that entry fee an additional amount based on their success last season. For the teams that did not win the Constructors’ Championship, they must add an additional $6,174 for each point they won during the 2022 season. That means Williams Racing, who finished tenth in the Constructors’ Championship with eight points on the year, their fee for the 2023 season will be the base fee of $617,687, plus an additional $49,392, due to the eight points they secured during the season. That brings Williams’ entry fee for 2023 to $667,079.
McLaren earned 159 points last season. So their entry fee for the next season will be $1,599,353. That represents the base fee of $617,687, plus an additional $981,666 based on their 159 points from 2022.
That brings us to Red Bull.
Thanks to the success of both Sergio Pérez — who finished third in the Drivers’ Championship — and series champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull won the Constructors’ Championship with 759 points. That was the highest total for a team since Mercedes won in 2016 with 765 points, and the second-highest total since F1 revamped the scoring system prior to the 2010 season.
Under the F1 regulations, the team that secures the Constructors’ Championship pays even more on a per-point basis. Instead of paying an additional $6,174 per point, the champion pays an additional $7,411 per point.
As a result, Red Bull’s entry fee for the 2023 campaign is a whopping $6,242,636. That accounts for the base fee of $617,687, plus an additional $5,624,949 due to their success on the track.
For comparison, by finishing second with 554 points, Ferrari faces an entry fee of $4,038,083.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner joked about the bill at last week’s FIA Gala, their year-end awards ceremony. “I didn’t realise how much we had to pay the FIA for the points – I got the bill the other day and it was incredible.”
Horner is not going to lose too much sleep over the bill, however.
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