If you think getting to Formula 1 is expensive, then your eyes would water digesting how much it costs to keep racing in F1, even if you have a seat. A testament to this is the fact that three-time world champion, Max Verstappen and his teammate, Sergio Perez will have to mandatorily cough up a whopping $1.9 million to renew their superlicense to compete in 2024 according to the FIA’s mandate. Does that mean they would have to put up their own hard-earned cash? Well, no. As it turns out, Red Bull will gladly pick up the cheque.
According to revered F1 photojournalist, Kym Illman, “The teams pay for all of their drivers’ licenses. So, Red Bull in 2024 will stump up just over 1.8 million euros ($1.9 million approx.)” As per the FIA regulations, each driver has to pay a base fee of $12,170 each. On top of that, the drivers also need to pay $2,457 for each point they scored in 2023. Naturally, with the teams shouldering this particular financial burden, it isn’t as cumbersome for the drivers as you’d imagine.
That being said, despite Verstappen not technically having to spend that ungodly amount, he did criticize the governing body of the sport for having that rule in the first place. He told Viaplay, “I do think there should be some normal ratio in that. But you know, things like that get written down, and I don’t think anybody expected that there would end up being that many points scored.”
Verstappen may have flagged his discontent on the issue, but in reality, it shouldn’t bother him that much. Be that as it may, for Red Bull, however, this extra million or two would surely pinch.
Red Bull are now officially suffering from success
While the Milton Keynes team will have to cough up the $1.9 million bill their drivers have left, they also have to pay their own competition fee! The Constructors’ fee structure entails a base fee of $657,837 with an additional $6575 for each point scored.
Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen’s exploits won them a massive haul of points in 2023. With a record-breaking and unprecedented 860 points scored by the Constructors’ champions, their total bill, in addition to their drivers’, comes up to a massive $7,445,817.
The 800+ mark in F1 has never been crossed before. Hence, the fee that the team will be paying is going down as the highest fee paid by any team to compete in the history of the sport. The only other team that has even gotten close to this is the 2016 Mercedes team who scored a total of 765 points.
Nevertheless, with such a record-breaking and historic season under their belts, the Bulls would be breaking-even in no time with such hyped publicity and arguably soaring Energy Drinks sales.
