The magnificent Circuit of the Americas usually provides excellent and exciting racing. That phenomenal run up to the blind corner of turn one causes problems especially at the start.

Esteban Ocon in his sartorial elegance.

A Rome, faites comme les Romains (When in Rome, do as the Romans do)
Rome? Perhaps Texas.

Esteban Ocon (Haas) will be hoping that the updates that his team has brought to this race will prove to be beneficial. Haas have brought a bunch of updates for their cars. They are the only team to do so besides Mercedes who have a small update.

Haas update-

The Mercedes update-

While most constructors have not brought updates to the weekend, some have brought special liveries.

Williams, Racing Bulls, McLaren, Haas, Alpine, and Aston Martin have each unveiled special liveries that will feature on their cars during the 2025 United States Grand Prix.

Williams will showcase their 2002 livery in honour of title partner Atlassian’s founding year, with Juan Pablo Montoya unveiling the design in Austin.

Racing Bulls introduced a tortoiseshell-themed kit for this weekend, unveiled with singer Shaboozey and worn by Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson.

Aston Martin’s AMR25 features its first custom livery, decorated with mathematical formulas to honour Formula 1’s “invisible science.”

Alpine have placed a yellow stripe on the engine cover and rear wing of their car. This design will be present on the A525 during the upcoming races in Austin, Mexico City, and Sao Paulo.

McLaren, the 2025 Constructors’ Champions, introduced an “iridescent livery enhancement” that will be applied to their car in Mexico as well.

The American team Haas selected a ‘Stars and Stripes’ design for Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman’s VF-25 cars.

Tyres

Pirelli provided a non-consecutive hardness range of tyres for the weekend. The C1 was selected for the hard white marked tyre, the C3 for the medium yellow marked tyre and C4 for the soft red marked tyre. Last year it was the C2, C3 and C4.

After the sprint race Pirelli obviously saw a problem with the tyres and issued a revised preview via the race director. The first issue, A, of the preview was issued on Wednesday at 14:02. The second issue, B, was issued on Friday evening at 20:07. The change was to apply a pressure increase of 1psi to all tyres. For instance, the front slick tyres increased from 24 to 25psi and the rear slicks from 22 to 23psi.

Free Practice

With only one hour of practice before sprint qualifying most running was done to get the feel of the circuit for the drivers. It was hot with the ambient temperature at 31C (88F) and track temperature at 44C (111.2F). Most of the sessions running was on the hard compound tyres.

Only Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll from Aston Martin started on the medium tyre to scrub them, which is putting the tyres through a one-lap heat cycle. This process is intended to help the tyres reach optimal temperature more quickly when used later in the race. While other teams occasionally use this scrubbing technique, Aston Martin applies it on a regular basis.

After around twenty minutes into the practice Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) ran very wide over a sausage kerb and shed carbon fibre on the circuit. The session was stopped by a red flag so the debris could be cleared. After a few minutes the session was resumed.

Both Carlos Sainz (Williams) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) had mechanical issues with their cars which curtailed running. Carlos only managed nine laps and Charles eighteen.

Towards the end of practice on a mixture of soft and medium tyres most cars did a qualifying simulation and the times were-

Last year’s sprint qualifying time was 1m 32.833s and race qualifying time was 1m 32.330s.

Note Nico Hulkenberg’s (Kick Sauber) second place. Where did that come from?

That was the preparation for the United States Sprint and Grand Prix qualifying sessions and races.

WORLD CONSTRUCTOR CHAMPION 2025

At the Singapore Grand Prix McLaren clinched the 2025 Formula One World Constructors’ Championship. With their 27 points garnered at this race they now have an unassailable lead. Even if they score no more points for the remainder of the season no other team is mathematically capable of surpassing their total.

The 27 points were earned for Lando Norris coming third (15 points) and Oscar Piastri coming fourth (12 points).

The race was won by George Russell (Mercedes) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) came second.

From starting grid to checkered flag-

The full lap chart-

With the World Constructors’ Championship done and dusted, attention turns to the World Drivers’ Championship.

The situation after the Singapore GP is-

It does look like McLaren will do the double with either Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri. But with six race weekends still to go with 3 sprint races there is still 174 winning points available. Should Lando’s and Oscar’s performance fall off then Max Verstappen is an outside contender. Even more of an outsider is George Russell.

Graphically the championship race-

Oscar Piastri must still be the favourite to win his first World Drivers’ Championship as he has been so very consistence throughout the season so far. Only his spinout in the wet Australian race and his crash in Azerbaijan have shown any vulnerability. When we look at the top six drivers’ finishing positions in this year’s competition so far, we can see this.

On further analysis of the data, we see-

The last six race weekends are going to be very interesting.

As a result of the covid pandemic restrictions the automotive sector was particularly hard hit. The Mclaren Group was not immune to this and despite laying off 1200 employees, which included 70 from the racing division, the group was in dire need of further funding.

In June 2020, McLaren announced its intention to raise £275 million by leveraging its renowned Woking headquarters and heritage collection as collateral. This initiative prompted legal proceedings, as creditors sought to prevent the transaction, contending that these assets had previously been used to secure other obligations. This left McLaren on the brink of insolvency.

MSP Capital came to the rescue purchasing a 15% share in McLaren Racing or the McLaren Group, who then owned 100% of McLaren Racing. They raised this shareholding to a third in 2022. CYVN bought McLaren Automative which in its turn had a minority shareholding in McLaren Racing.

For most of 2025 the shareholding structure looked something like this-

McLaren at the start of 2025: Market Value – $2.65 Billion – £1.961 Billion

In early November it was announced that MSP Sports Capital had sold its shares to the other shareholders in an undisclosed transaction. Early reports stated that the share deal valued McLaren at $4.01 Billion (£3 Billion) with later reports saying the value was more than $5 Billion (£3.74 Billion).

Which ever is the true market valuation of McLaren, MSP certainly made at least 10 times its initial investment. This is believed to be the largest return for an institutional investor in the history of sport.

For McLaren the MSP investment saved them from insolvency and permitted them to become World Constructors’ Championship in 2024 and in all likelihood in 2025. What a turn around.

The current McLaren shareholding-

Coupled with being the most competitive and skillful driver on the grid Max Verstappen was driving the RB19 which was the most competitive car.

Figure 1-RB19

The RB19 car powered by the Honda RBPTH001 power unit won 21 of the 22 races that season. Besides Max Verstappen winning 19 races, Sergio Perez won two races. Sergio was in the top 5 for 15 of the 22 races, which included 4 second places.

Only Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) managed to win a race. That was the Singapore GP where after a superb qualifying effort secured him pole position, a valiant drive holding off all challengers secured him his career second race win.

As far as the World Drivers’ Championship was concerned, Max Verstappen dominated (575 points) with Sergio (265 points) coming second.

The World Drivers’ Championship was dominated by Red Bull who had 860 points while Mercedes and Ferrari managed 409 and 406 points respectively.

Norman

A website that I respect and enjoy reading published this graphic-

It is just so wrong.

The dimension regulations for 2026 as published 10 June 2025 are complex as they are based on a right-handed Cartesian system.

The wheelbase is specified on two planes, Xf and Xr for front and rear respectively, and must be less than or equal to 3400mm at Legality Ride Height. This is 200 mm less than the current regulations. The Xf, front wheel plane, can deviate for up to 150mm which will further shorten the wheelbase.

In the current regulations the longest a car can be is 5630mm. Though not specified in the new regulations for 2026, the longest a car can be is 5480mm. This is shorter by 150mm. In theory, the greater the surface area of a car the greater the aerodynamic efficiency.

The cockpit position is also not fixed. The technical regulations rephrased for clarity “The distance between XA (the X−Plane that lies on the forward limit of the Survival Cel = 0) and XC (the X−Plane at the rear of the Cockpit = 0) must be greater than or equal to 1830mm and less than or equal to 2030mm”.

A bit more clarity-

The above drawing is to illustrate the technical regulations as interpreted by me. It is not an engineering drawing by any means. The teams do not publish details of their construction dimensions as this is their intellectual property.

For a side view of the car the maximum dimensions for length and wheelbase will be-

QUALIFYING ONE

With sunshine, moderate 4 m/s breeze, a track temperature of 34 degrees C and air temperature of 21 degrees C conditions were near perfect for qualifying.

About 14 minutes into the session with eight times on the board, Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) put two wheels onto the grass and spun into the barriers. Yellow flags came out but did not go to Red as Lance kept going and limped back to the pits.

All the drivers did at least two runs, some second runs on used tyres as was the case for the two Mclaren drivers. For the first time in the weekend Oscar Piastri was ahead of Lando Norris by 0.131 seconds.

The drivers eliminated were Franco Colapinto (Alpine), Nico Hulkenberg (Kick Sauber), Esteban Ocon (Haas), Oliver Bearman (Haas) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) with no time set.

QUALIFYING TWO

Seeing fifteen beautiful F1 cars jockeying for position and seemingly on rails into the various twists and bends of the circuit was a glorious spectacle. The slowest thirteen of them were within just over half of a second of each other.

Spectacles aside, five drivers had to be eliminated. They were Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull), Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber), Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Alex Albon (Williams). Yuki Tsunoda and Gabriel Bortoleto even set identical times of 1:09.622.

QUALIFYING THREE or Top Ten Shootout

Only three drivers did their fastest lap on their first timed lap in the last 10 minutes. The two McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri (more on that later), and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin). The other seven drivers improved on second timed laps.

The top ten drivers’ times throughout the qualifying periods-

All the drivers’ qualifying times-

And Graphically-

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

Throughout the weekend, Lando consistently demonstrated a faster pace than Oscar. During Q1, however, Oscar completed a second timed lap and, for the first time, recorded a time ahead of Lando, who did not finish his second timed attempt.

When it came to Q3 their first and only timed laps looked identical, and the leader board showed Oscar ahead by 0.012 seconds.

Delving into the telemetry showed this picture-

The red and dashed purple lines are speed of the cars as indicated on the left Y axis relative to the circuit turns on the x axis. The blue and green lines are the distance ahead of the other car in metres. Had the cars been on the circuit at the same time, the blue line would show how many metres Lando was ahead of Oscar. The green line shows how many meters Oscar would be ahead of Lando.

Starting over the Start/Finish line Lando carried 2 km/h speed advantage to Oscar, 320 to 318 km/h. Lando was faster through to turn 3 where Oscar was faster through to turn 8. Lando was then faster from turn 8 to turn 12, gaining 22+ metres to be more than 6 car lengths ahead. For the remainder of the lap, Oscar was faster than Lando to finish a mere 0.012 seconds in front.

What distance does 0.012 seconds represent at the speeds these cars were traveling? The answer to that is –

744 mm after traveling 4258.256 meters.

Such a small margin but well done, Oscar Piastri.

Norman

Tyres and in particular Pirelli need a special mention on this race weekend. Zandvoort circuit for the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix marks the 500th time that Pirelli have provided Formula 1 teams with tyres. Pirelli will deliver 1600 tyres, mounted on rims supplied by the teams and pumped to the correct pressure ready for action. Another 40 soft red marked tyres will be ready for those drivers who get to the third session of qualifying. Each driver will get thirteen sets of slick P-Zero tyres and seven sets of Cinturato wet weather tyres.

The tyres selected for this year at this circuit are softer than the tyres used last year. Pirelli have gone for C2, C3 and C4 for hard, medium and soft respectively whereas last year it was the C1, C2 and C3.

2024-

2025

Wet Weather Tyres

THE CIRCUIT

Zandvoort circuit is the second shortest (4.259km) on the 2025 calendar, only the anomalous Monte Carlo circuit is shorter. It is built over sand dunes and has an undulating layout with banked corners providing a rollercoaster experience. Despite being an “old school” circuit, it allows above average overtaking.

FREE PRACTICE ONE

Rain threatened but did not arrive.

On the sixth lap, Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) did a perfect pirouette-

That brought out yellow flags which soon turned to red as first Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) went through the gravel but recovered to the pits and Kimi Antonelli also went off but became bogged down.

The McLarens dominated with Lando Norris on top with Oscar Piastri about three tenths behind. The Aston Martins were third and fourth half a second off the McLarens’ pace with Lance Stroll ahead of Fernando Alonso by 0.06 seconds. Great to see both Williams cars in the top ten.

FREE PRACTICE TWO

Rain was threatening again and light drizzle did fall at the beginning of the session but not enough to impede the drivers who stayed on slick tyres throughout.

After only 11 minutes into FP2 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) crashed hard into the barriers at the top of the banked turn 3. Recovery of his car took 10 minutes out of FP2.

Twenty-five minutes into the session Isack Hadja’s Racing Bulls car lost power and stopped on the circuit. Fortunately, the marshals managed to push the car to safety and only 4 minutes of track time was lost to a Virtual Safety Car.

Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) again demonstrated his ballet skill with another 360 pirouette after dipping a wheel into the gravel at turn 9. Unfortunately, on a new set of soft tyres.

Alex Albon (Williams) went into the gravel at turn 1 and into the barriers. A full safety car was deployed for the car recovery which required all drivers to return to the pits. This impacts much more that the 4 minutes it took to recover the car.

FP2 is usually devoted to testing race pace with long runs which directly affects the fundamental setup of the cars. Once this base line is established FP3 can be used to fine tune the car for that one lap performance for qualifying which is only an overlay on the base setup. With such a disruptive FP2, a VSC an two red flags, the team’s programs were in disarray.

For fastest laps it was Lando Norris (McLaren) then Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and then Oscar Piastri (McLaren).

FREE PRACTICE THREE

No Yellow Flags, No red Flags, No Virtual Safety Cars and No Safety Cars what happened?

Besides Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and George Russell (Mercedes) trying to crash at the pit lane entrance there was just hard work getting the cars ready for qualifying and the race.

In terms of speed, it was McLaren with Lando Norris with a clean sweep through all the practice sessions. The other McLaren of Oscar Piastri had a blip from Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) in FP2. George Russell (Mercedes) consistent with FP1 seventh, FP2 fourth and FP3 third.

All the free practices times in this table-

All the free practices positions in this graph

Norman

Only three teams provided Car Presentation Submissions showing minor modifications to their cars for this race weekend. This clearly indicates that the constructors are firmly focussed on their 2026 cars. The massive regulation changes for next year have got their attention. Let us hope that these regulation changes do not produce the spectacle of almost undrivable bouncing (porpoising) cars trying to race like the last 2021 changes.

The FIA Formula One Media Delegate, Roman De Lauw, issued the Car Presentation Submissions on Friday morning 29 August to All Teams and All Officials.

The Car Presentation Submissions were-

Red Bull Racing

Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team

Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team

Norman

Also, what was their 2024 prize money?

The ownership of teams is far different from the early days of F1. In the early days there were the companies who made cars, the Ferraris, Alfa Romeos and Mercedes, and the guys who had a love of racing and the challenge of engineering who built cars to race themselves or with paid drivers to race them. Bruce McLaren, racing driver automotive designer, engineer and motorsport executive started McLaren F1 in 1963 and wanted a better car than the Coopers he had been competing in. Frank Williams was a remarkable individual who went from grocery salesman to the longest-serving Team Principal Formula 1 has ever seen. Peter Sauber who started building sports cars in his parent’s garage in 1970. First Sauber F1 race was the South African GP 1993. Sauber will become the Audi Team next year. Eddie Jordan founded Eddie Jordan Racing in 1983 his driver Martin Brundle was edged out of the British Formula Three Championship by Ayrton Senna in the last race of the season. Jordan won the F3000 Championship with Jean Alesi in 1989.The Jordan team entered F1 in 1991 and races today, after a few name changes, as Aston Martin though not on the same racing licence.

What teams are worth, being a market guestimate, is by much more qualified people than me. Using the Black Book, Sportico and Forbes these are their valuations.

ALPINE – BWT Alpine F1 Team

Market Value – $1.5 Billion – £1.11 Billion

2024 World Constructors’ Championship Prize Money – £71.3 million

Owned by

If you wanted an F1 team owned by a movie star and NFL quarterback, then Alpine is the one for you.

While the majority of the Enstone team is owned by the Renault Group, in June 2023 the French company sold a 24% stake to US based investment group Otro Capital.

That US-based group includes the likes of RedBird Capital Partners and Maximum Effort Investments and with it, a number of high-profile investors.

Athletes such as Anthony Joshua, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Mahomes, and Travis Kelce are all investors as well as Wrexham AFC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

It is sad that Renault as Alpine will not be full works team from next year. They have decided to abandon the Renault racing engine and become a customer team using Mercedes engines. There have been Renault engines in F1 since 1977 with a short gap 1986 to 1989.

ASTON MARTIN – Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team

Market Value – $2.07 Billion – £1.532 Billion

2024 World Constructors’ Championship Prize Money – £78 million

Owned by

The Silverstone team has been through various names and owners since Eddie Jordan established it in 1991 but in 2019, a consortium led by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll purchased the team under the name Racing Point UK.

In 2021, Stroll became the executive chairman of the Aston Martin car company and so changed the name to AMR Holdings GP Limited and the F1 team became Aston Martin.

In November 2023, Stroll sold a minority share of the team to private equity firm Arctos Partners.

In March 2025, Aston Martin Lagonda, as a brand, sold their stake in the team to Stroll’s Yew Tree Consortium, which the team confirmed “will result in Mr Stroll increasing his shareholding in AML to 33% while strengthening the company’s balance sheet by over £125m.”

FERRARI – Scuderia Ferrari HP

Market Value – $4.78 Billion – £3.54 Billion

2024 World Constructors’ Championship Prize Money – £198.3 million

Owned by

2015 saw a significant change to the Ferrari ownership model with F1’s oldest team listed on New York and Milan stock markets.

Of those stocks, Exor N.V., the holding company of the wealthy Italian Agnelli family, owns the biggest stake at 22.91% followed by Piero Ferrari who received 10% after his father and team founder Enzo Ferrari died in 1988. The remaining 67.09% is owned by the public.

HAAS – MoneyGram Haas F1 Team

Market Value – $1.02 Billion – £0.755 Billion

2024 World Constructors’ Championship Prize Money – £65.3 million

Owned by

The American outfit is entirely owned by Haas Automation which is owned by American millionaire Gene Haas.

While this gives Gene control of the team, it does mean the team is often outspent by their rivals. In recent years they have attracted major sponsors such as MoneyGram and a collaboration with Toyota.

MCLAREN – McLaren F1 Team

Market Value – $2.65 Billion – £1.961 Billion

2024 World Constructors’ Championship Prize Money – £118.3 million

Owned by

McLaren Racing is a subsidiary of the wider McLaren brand called the McLaren Group which encompassed both the racing teams and the car manufacturer.

In 2023, Mumtalakat, the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain, took full ownership of the McLaren Group having first become a shareholder in 2007.

Despite McLaren Group being owned by Bahrain, the racing team does have an external investor in the form of American investment firm MSP Sports Capital who purchased 15% for £185 million in 2020 as the team looked to raise funds during COVID. That stake was increased to 33% in 2022.

In April 2025, Abu Dhabi government-owned investors CYVN Holdings completed the full purchase of McLaren Automotive, the company’s road car division, which as part of the deal saw them acquire a ‘non-controlling stake’ in McLaren Racing, which runs the Formula 1 team. The portion of the team that was purchased was not disclosed, though the team confirmed Mumtalakat remains a ‘major shareholder’ with operations unchanged.

MERCEDES – Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team

Market Value – $3.95 Billion – £2.923 Billion

2024 World Constructors’ Championship Prize Money – £164.8 million

Owned by

Mercedes F1 are owned by three parties all of which hold an equal stake in the team: Mercedes-Benz Group, Toto Wolff and INEOS.

The Mercedes-Benz group, formerly known as Daimler, purchased a 45.1% stake of Brawn GP in 2010 alongside the 30% acquired by Aabar Investments. In 2011, the two parties bought the remaining 24.9% before Daimler took full control the year after that.

The next ownership shuffle came in 2013 when Toto Wolff joined from Williams and purchased a 30% stake while Niki Lauda bought 10%.

In 2019, Lauda passed away and his stake returned to Mercedes before the team welcomed chemical company INEOS in 2020 who bought a third of the team. That also saw Wolff increase his share to a third while Daimler reduced theirs to the same amount.

INEOS, led by British businessman Jim Ratcliffe, owns a number of sports teams including the INEOS Britannia sailing team, OGC Nice and most recently Manchester United.

RACING BULLS – Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team

Market Value – $1.22 Billion – £0.903 Billion

2024 World Constructors’ Championship Prize Money – £58.5 million

RED BULL – Oracle Red Bull Racing

Market Value – $3.5 Billion – £2.59 Billion

2024 World Constructors’ Championship Prize Money – £144.8 million

Up until the end of May 2025 the ownership of Red Bull and Racing Bulls was-

After that it changed to-

Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls are owned entirely by parent company Red Bull GmbH, which was founded in 1984 by Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz and Thai pharmacist Chaleo Yoovidhya. These two men each had 49% of the company and the remaining 2% went to Chaleo Yoovidhya’s son Charlerm Yoovidhya. On the death of Chaleo Yoovidhya in March of 2012 Charlerm Yoovidhya inherited the 49% from his father which left him with 51% of Red Bull GmbH. When Dietrich Mateschitz died in 22 October 2022, his son Mark inherited his father’s 49%.

Then at the end of May 2025 a new entity Fides Trusties SA were registered as a 2% shareholder of Red Bull GmbH.

Nine days later Christian Horner, team principle of Red Bull was sacked. Under Horner’s leadership, Red Bull won eight Drivers’ Championships, six Constructors’ titles, and 124 Grands Prix, making him the second most successful team boss in F1 history, behind only Ron Dennis.

The reason for Christian Horner’s termination has never been given and only rumour and conjecture remain. That there was an inappropriate conduct scandal floating around the paddock which was seemingly put to rest by two KC investigations is well known. The scandal was exacerbated by the loss of major talents from the team, including Adrian Newey (design) to Aston Martin, Jonathan Wheatley (sporting director) to Team Principle Sauber/Audi, Will Courtenay (head of strategy) to McLaren, Rob Marshall (chief engineering officer), as Chief Designer McLaren and Lee Stevenson (Verstappen’s chief mechanic until 2020) to Sauber/Audi.

SAUBER – Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber

Market Value – $1.2 Billion – £0.888 Billion

2024 World Constructors’ Championship Prize Money – £45.7 million

Owned by

There has been a lot of focus on the ownership of this team over the last few years with Audi announcing a minority stake purchase in Sauber in January 2023 but in March of 2024 they upped that stake to 100%.

Later that same year, Audi announced they had sold roughly 30% of the team to the Qatar Investment Authority which is the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar and holds assets estimated to be around $526 billion.

WILLIAMS – Atlassian Williams Racing

Market Value – $1.24 Billion – £0.918 Billion

2024 World Constructors’ Championship Prize Money – £55.1 million

Owned by

Having been set up by Frank Williams in 1977, the Williams family held control until 2020 when the rising cost of F1 saw them sell to US-based private investment firm Dorilton Capital.

Since then, the Williams family have moved away from the team with Frank passing away in 2021 while Claire Williams left her role of deputy team principal in 2020.

For 2026-The Eleventh Team

Cadilliac – Cadillac F1 team

Market Value – $450 Million – £333 Million

2024 World Constructors’ Championship Prize Money – N/A

Owned by

The Cadillac F1 team has been valued at an anti-dilution fee of $450 million to enter Formula 1. This fee is split among the existing ten teams. While this fee secures their entry, the future overall valuation of the team is tied to its performance and the broader value of the Formula 1.

Summary of Market Value of F1 Teams 2025 and Prize Money Earned 2024

Market Value

Prize Money

Initially, one might assume that F1 prize money directly corresponds to on-track results; however, the reality is considerably more complex. Although securing a higher position in the Constructors’ Championship does enhance a team’s revenue, Formula 1 employs a multifaceted approach to prize distribution.

The final payout for each team is determined by three principal factors: their ranking in the 2024 World Constructors’ Championship, a decade-long performance bonus for consistently finishing in the top three, and, specifically for Ferrari, a historic payment recognizing its enduring contribution to the sport. With the total prize pool for 2024 estimated at more than £1 billion, these components collectively establish a distinct payout framework that does not necessarily correspond directly with championship standings.

As can be seen from the above table, McLaren who were the 2025 F1 World Constructors’ Champions only received the fourth highest prize money.

Norman