Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited generated £474 million in turnover and £89 million in profit in 2022 despite its title-winning streak in Formula 1 coming to an end, officials documents show.
Mercedes made nearly £20 million more in profit in the year it was eliminated from title contention, according to accounts submitted to Companies House for the 2022 financial year, which is a legal requirement for any business operating in the United Kingdom.
Red Bull, the winner of the championships, also saw an increase in revenue of nearly £40 million from 2021, when Max Verstappen won the first of his three World Championships, to date.
Figures for the 2023 season will not be available until the team’s publish their accounts this time next year, with Companies House requiring submissions by the end of September.
NOTE: All figures in this article are in British Pound Sterling (GBP).
Mercedes and Red Bull numbers explained
Mercedes’ turnover was boosted by a £42 million sponsorship injection from Ineos, the Applied Sciences division and £12.8 million from Athena Racing for development work for sailing’s America’s Cup – which is backed by Ineos.
It meant the overall turnover of the Brackley squad was £474.5 million with outgoings of £350.8 million – with both figures higher than in 2021.
Gross profit rose to £123.7 million from £85.8 million in 2021 with a total before-tax profit of £113.4 million.
The total profit margin in 2022 could have been even higher than the £89.7 million recorded if it was not for a sizeable £23.7 million tax bill – up from just £3.056 million in the 2021 financial year.
Commercial revenue for both teams was also up in 2022 compared to 2021 with the overall F1 pie growing as well as the return of flyaway races such as Singapore, Australia and Japan after the Covid-impacted ’21 campaign.
For Red Bull, the team won its first Drivers’ and Constructors’ double since 2013 as its overall turnover increased to £278 million from £238.3 million in 2021 and its gross profit nearly tripled to £24.8 million from £8.1 million.
For the Milton Keynes-based outfit, total profit rose by £701,000 to £2.0 million.
Included in Red Bull’s figures is how much it paid for breaching the cost cap in 2021 through entering the Accepted Breach Agreement with the FIA – with the total being £6,156,429.