This is what a formula one car costs!

The new 2024 Formula 1 season will kick off again on 29 February with the Bahrain Grand Prix. A prime time to highlight the cost of Formula 1 cars. We take a look at what a Formula 1 car actually costs and zoom in on Max Vertsappen’s Red bull.

• This is the budget for Formula 1 teams
• Formula 1 car parts, cost per part
• The engine, the hefty cost for F1 teams
• Buying an old Formula 1 car yourself?
• The cost of Verstappen’s car

The budget ceiling

Exactly what a Formula 1 car costs varies from team to team and from car to car, but to keep things somewhat fair, a maximum budget of $150 million has been set. This budget is available to a team and must therefore be divided between two cars. Not all costs incurred by an F1 team are part of this maximum budget.

The main costs not covered by the Formula 1 budget cap are:

• Drivers’ salaries
• The salary of the team’s three highest-paid employees
• Engine/power development costs, if the team develops it itself (as opposed to buying an engine from an external supplier)
• Cost of training and developing young drivers in the teams’ junior programmes
• Fines and penalties imposed by the FIA

In addition, things like marketing, hospitality and travel costs for sponsors and VIPs are also not covered by the budget cap. The budget cap is meant to limit the development costs of the cars themselves, creating a more level playing field between teams.

Cost of a formula 1 car: The parts

In 2018, the Mercedes and Ferrari teams still spent more than $400 million on their cars. Exactly what the teams are spending on their bolides this season is not known, but the cost is between $12 million and $15 million. How is this divided by part of the formula one cars? The chart below shows an estimate of how much each part costs.

A big expense – The engine

In 2023, it was decided to allow four engines per driver for one season, but in 2024 and 2025 this will also apply. No three engines, as it was always before. These engines are a hefty cost for F1 teams, but then it is an essential component to achieve success. How much Formula 1 teams spend is often confidential information, but the cost of an f1 engine is about €4 million a year. So this cost does not count towards the budget ceiling. Teams in Formula 1 can modify and optimise almost every aspect of their cars. This is a difference from Formula 2 where everything is standardised.

CAN YOU BUY YOUR OWN FORMULA ONE CAR?

Buying a real Formula 1 car yourself sounds like a very expensive dream, but even if you have the money lying around, it is almost impossible to buy a real Formula 1 car. Should an opportunity arise to purchase one, it is through auctions, direct sales by teams or specialised dealers. How much you would spend for a car depends on its history. Cars owned by Michael Schumacher ($7 million), Juan Manuel Fangio ($29.6 million) and Ayrton Senna ($4.8 million) have been auctioned in the past. So save some more!

THIS IS HOW EXPENSIVE MAX VERSTAPPEN’S CAR IS

The most famous car fish in the Netherlands is of course Max Verstappen’s Red bull car, the world champion can race improbably well, but a good car helps with that. Red Bull claims the car costs around 15 million, add to that the cost of the engine of 15-20 million euros and Red bull is already heading towards 35-40 million euros to provide Max with a champion’s car.