January 15, 2015 – Mercedes is paying the highest ever fee to enter the 2015 Formula 1 world championship.
According to German publication Auto Motor und Sport, the standard fee for entering the championship is $516,000. However, each team has to pay for every point gained throughout the previous season, with each point now costing teams $5161.
The champion team, meanwhile, has to pay $6194 per point scored, meaning that Mercedes’ bill for simply entering the 2015 world championship is nearly $4.9 million (701 points times $6194, plus $516,000), which is almost twice as much as Red Bull’s $2.6 million fee.
But the good news for Mercedes is that the team’s official prize money haul has also significantly increased. After receiving $87 million for finishing the 2013 championship as runner-up, the 2014 prize for winning the constructors’ title, on the other hand, is $102 million.
In addition to Mercedes and Red Bull’s nearly $8 million in fees, the FIA will receive a further combined total of almost $16 million from the other teams on the 2015 grid.