Formula 1 teams pay over $16m in 2019 entry fees

Formula 1 teams have paid $16m in entry fees to the FIA for the 2019 World Championship, with champions Mercedes accountable for over $4.5m of the total.

Mercedes battled with Ferrari through the opening half of the season, before pulling clear after the summer break, clinching its fifth straight Constructors’ crown with a round to spare.

From 2013, an amended entry fee system mandated every team to pay a flat entry fee of $516,128, indexed by the US CPI [Consumer Price Index], along with a sliding scale dependent on its success.

The Constructors’ Champions must pay a fee of $6194 for each point earned, with the remaining outfits charged $5161 per point amassed, with the amount payable by 30 November.

The 655 points accrued by Mercedes in 2018 means it has paid $4,573,198 to the FIA, a slight reduction on 2017.

It is the lowest amount Mercedes has had to pay since it emerged as a title-winning force in 2014, having paid as much as $5.2m after its 2016 success.

Ferrari has copped a year-on-year increase of a quarter of a million dollars on account of a more competitive campaign, while Red Bull has faced a similar charge increase.

Renault faces the largest year-on-year increase, forking out an additional $335,465, while Racing Point’s entry fee stands at $784,500, less than half of what predecessor Force India paid for 2018.

Haas, McLaren and Sauber’s fees have all increased on account of scoring more points compared to their 2017 totals.

Toro Rosso and Williams, meanwhile, have gone in the other direction – the Grove-based outfit taking a reduction of $392,236 off the back of its lacklustre campaign, in which it scored only seven points.

The combined entry fees amount to $16,479,877, an increase of $203,333 on the previous year.

Team: 2019 entry fee/2018 entry fee

Mercedes: $4,573,198 / $4,653,720

Ferrari: $3,463,059 / $3,210,170

Red Bull: $2,678,587 / $2,415,376

Renault: $1,145,770 / $810,305

Haas: $996,101 / $758,695

McLaren: $836,110 / $670,958

Racing Point: $784,500 / $1,481,235*

Sauber: $763,856 / $541,933

Toro Rosso: $686,441 / $789,661

Williams: $552,255 / $944,491

Overall: $16,479,877 / $16,276,544

*The figure for 2018, based on 2017 points, relates to Racing Point predecessor Force India, which was officially excluded from the World Championship on August 23 2018. Stewards regard Racing Point, which entered as Racing Point Force India from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards, as a new entity, following a ruling handed down during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend.