Although Max Verstappen and Red Bull have already clinched both Formula 1 world championships for 2023 with the team winning 20 of 21 races, much is still up for grabs in the Abu Dhabi GP season finale.
Eight of the remaining nine positions are still to be decided in the constructors’ standings, where a team could lose millions if they finish one place lower than hoped. Their finishing position could therefore have a big impact for 2024 and beyond.
Mercedes and Ferrari are tight in battle for second, Aston Martin is trying to regain fourth from McLaren, while Williams, AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo and Haas are all squabbling over the bottom four positions. Alpine is the only other constructor that has secured their finishing position for 2023, with the sixth-placed team 153 points behind Aston Martin in fifth but 92 ahead of seventh-placed Williams.
Even though F1’s exact prize money split is secret, it is possible to gain a good estimate of how much each position is worth using information in the public domain. As per the Concorde Agreement, the contract which governs the series, the team prize pot makes up 50% of F1’s commercial rights profit.
But teams do not always get 50% as after a certain point of revenue, it is understood Formula One Management’s percentage share increases. So in 2022, for example, the prize pot was $1.157 billion after F1 generated revenues of $2.57 billion, which equates to roughly 45%.
Those payments are also not shared equally. Ferrari receive an extra payment, believed to be 5% of the prize pot, for its historical significance as the Italian outfit has competed in every F1 season since 1950.
Other teams receive more money for past successes like winning the championship. So, it is estimated that bonus payments account for around 25% leaving the rest for 10 teams to split.
F1’s predicted earnings are expected to rise by up to 10% which means team payments will total around $1.25-1.3 billion, so the following numbers are estimated based on a $1 billion prize pot.
Source: Autosport