Drivers and teams are charged a fee to participate in the world championship based on their results from the previous year, with a flat fee adding to a set amount per point scored.
Due to the ever-increasing number of events and the introduction of sprint races there are more points on offer than ever before.
With 23 races and six sprints, there will be 443 more points available in 2023 than five years ago, before the advent of sprints and bonus points for the fastest lap.
But the fee per point hasn’t decreased to compensate for that. According to the 2023 FIA Sporting Regulations, all teams are required to pay a flat rate of $617,687, plus a fee per point scored. That points fee has risen from $6,926 to $7,441 for the constructors’ world champion and from $5,770 to $6,174 for the remaining nine teams.
The driver fees are not made public, but Autosport has learned that for 2023 their points-based fee has been increased by nearly 30% from $1,623 to $2,100 per point scored.
Add the flat fee of $16,236 ($12,256 plus $3,980 for insurance) and the FIA is banking $26,699,573, a significant amount of more cash from registration fees than before.
Red Bull is naturally hit the hardest as it conquered both the drivers’ and the constructors’ championships with Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
Assuming the team covers all three fees, the Milton Keynes squad will pay $6,242,636 for signing up, as well as $969,636 for Verstappen and $656,736 for third-placed Perez. That means it will cost the team nearly eight million dollars of FIA fees just to be allowed to race.
At the FIA’s Prize Giving gala in December, team boss Christian Horner quipped that he “didn’t realise how much we had to pay the FIA for the points. I got the bill the other day and it was incredible.”
Winner Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, in the drivers’ press conference
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Speaking to Austrian broadcaster ServusTV, Verstappen also called the sum “absurd”.
“I don’t think it’s right that we have to pay so much,” he said earlier this winter. “It’s not the case in other sports either. And there are more and more races.”
At the other end of the spectrum, Williams’ total bill is just $707,951 for Alex Albon and newcomer Logan Sargeant after finishing last in 2022.
The FIA has historically used the revenue to drive safety research and improvements such as the HANS and halo systems, although it is not entirely clear how the money is used.
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