The 2024 season started on an optimistic note for Red Bull’s sister team RB as the Faenza-based outfit had a strong hold in the Constructors’ standings with a P6 finish strongly in sight. However, the late-season resurgence of the likes of Haas and mainly Alpine resulted in RB finishing only P8 after the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
According to RB CEO Peter Bayer, they took a staggering $20 million prize money hit owing to this. “The difference from P6 to P7 is about 10 million dollars and the difference from P7 to P8 is also about 10 million dollars,” he told RacingNews365.
This has left the team without enough finances to even conduct pre-season tests under the new Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) regulations. “We haven’t really been able to do that yet, mainly for financial reasons. These kinds of perks are simply hindered by the loss of prize money,” Bayer added.
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS (24/24 races)
McLaren crowned champions Alpine secure P6 #F1 #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/zFENokupWi
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 8, 2024
While RB has conducted tests, they haven’t been as extensive as Bayer would have liked it to be. He cited the example of Mercedes who have fielded Andrea Kimi Antonelli in several tests across the off-season. The likes of RB, with their limited budget, just cannot compete on those terms.
Naturally, the performance of a team in the preceding season is very important for its future as well. RB is the perfect example of how much a drop in performance and prize money can impact the team’s readiness for the upcoming season.
RB employees fail to get their bonuses after team’s P8 finish
The driver’s preparedness isn’t the only department that was left lacking after RB’s drop in the standings last season. Bayer revealed that the team’s employees also did not receive their bonuses because of the loss of prize money.
“We are like any other team. We use a concept of a fixed salary plus bonuses for our staff. This [the loss of prize money] is therefore felt by everyone. These people love their work, also give up a lot for it and so we hope we can give something back to them,” he said.
That said, RB would be looking to be more competitive in 2025 with their driver line-up of Yuki Tsunoda and F2 graduate Isack Hadjar. But it might prove to be a tall order given how competitive the field was at the end of last season.
The sport is now moving into the last year of the current regulation set and it is expected that the teams will start off in terms of performance where they left off in Abu Dhabi. Naturally, with a focus also moving on 2026 soon, RB will have to decide where their priorities lie this season.
