The company managing the Mercedes team in Formula 1 recorded a record profit in its history in 2025, which is probably the largest in the history of the entire Formula 1. Such a good result was also possible thanks to the departure of Lewis Hamilton, as the company’s costs dropped significantly while revenues remained stable.
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Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd, whose main task is to run the Formula 1 team, published its financial report for 2025 at the UK office. In this text, I only deal with the results of this company. I remind you that Mercedes’ engine division is a separate company that has not yet made its report public.
Mercedes in F1 has been regularly recording better financial results for many years for several reasons. The introduction of budget caps in F1 has made them limit spending on running their team. At the same time, they have increasing revenues from sponsors and Liberty Media. The reduction in F1 spending led Mercedes to start additional activities within Mercedes-Benz Applied Science a few years ago. In recent years, they have carried out significant work related to modernizing the factory, modeled after technology company headquarters in Silicon Valley. The costs of this work, along with the purchase of the plot, will amount to about £100 million. Construction work will be completed in the second half of 2026.
The Mercedes F1 team has been self-sufficient for several years, meaning its owners (including the Mercedes group) do not subsidize it. The company generates profits, and the three shareholders receive money in the form of dividends. A few years ago, the Mercedes group considered selling its team, but now this topic is off the table. The group owns an F1 team that promotes them and still makes money from it. An ideal situation.
Discussion of Mercedes F1 team’s financial results in 2025
The company managing the Mercedes F1 team recorded revenues of £633.4 million in 2025. The improvement compared to 2024 was £1.3 million from £632.1 million. An important note here, because last year they reported £636 million in revenues, but this was corrected due to a change in reporting method. In the commentary, they stated that the revenue increase was caused by higher income from sponsors and licensing, as revenues from Liberty Media fell due to poorer results the previous year. Revenues generated from F1 presence (sponsors, licenses, and FOM bonuses) in 2025 amounted to £541 million. Direct operating costs amounted to £423.5 million, down from £449.3 million in 2024. This amount includes research and development expenses, which in 2025 were £145.8 million, compared to £127.1 million the previous year. In my opinion, this shows the effect of Hamilton’s departure, i.e., in 2024 they paid him a lot of money, and in 2025 he was replaced by Antonelli, who received a very low salary. The company generated a net profit of £133.1 million in 2025 after all taxes and fees, which is a clear record in its history. For comparison, in 2024 the profit was £117.6 million (according to the new reporting method).
The team conducted trade exchanges (buying and selling various services) with many companies belonging to the Mercedes group worldwide, but these are small amounts. The group has not contributed anything to the team in terms of sponsorship for many years. The F1 team bought something from the engine factory for £3.5 million and sold for £9.4 million. The purchase of engines for the F1 team is probably settled through the group’s main company, as they bought goods or services from it for £15.3 million. This value fits the annual costs of engine purchases in F1. Trade exchange with INEOS drastically fell from £53.1 million in 2024 to £27 million in 2025. The reason is the end of the America’s Cup participation project.
In 2025, the average monthly number of employees was 1,348, an increase of 25 compared to 2024. Among employees in 2025, 998 were engineers, designers, and production workers, and 350 worked in administration. The number of employees decreased in the first group, while administration increased by 47 people. Total employee salary expenses in 2025 amounted to £157.5 million, a significant increase compared to £125 million in 2024. It is very likely that the reason was bonuses paid at the end of the year for finishing second in the constructors’ championship, as the previous year bonuses for fourth place were very small (if paid at all for that position). In top F1 teams, it is common to pay several or a dozen thousand pounds to all employees in December if the team finishes in the TOP3 of the constructors’ championship (the bonus amount depends on the position).
Regarding employees, it should be clarified that the numbers given refer to the average number of employees throughout the year. There are many contract workers in F1, so at certain times more work in the factory. Budget caps have caused that in large teams like Mercedes, some employees have been removed from continuous F1-related work. This means that such an employee officially spends part of their time on other things (hence the Applied Science division was created), and part on F1-related projects. The actual number of employees in the factory during the year is higher. There have been statements that 1,500 people work in the Mercedes factory, and that in a few years it will be 2,000 when they expand the campus and start new activities.
The highest-paid director in 2025 earned £9.53 million, nearly twice as much as the previous year – £4.46 million. The name is not indicated, but it is 100% Toto Wolff. The commentary states that other directors are directly employed and paid in other group companies. Wolff is the only one who qualifies to receive a salary for this role.
Mercedes has been generating very large profits for several years, most of which are paid to shareholders as dividends. During 2025, a total of £125 million was paid this way. In 2024, £100 million was paid as dividends, and in 2023 £75 million. The management decided to pay £120 million in March 2026 from the profit generated in 2025. Between 2023 and 2026, the F1 team paid its shareholders a total of £420 million in dividends. These are huge amounts. It is worth recalling that a few years ago owners subsidized their F1 teams, and now some of them (Mercedes is a clear leader here) bring them huge profits. The F1 team has three owners, each holding 33.3% shares: the Mercedes group, INEOS, and Toto Wolff’s company. Each of them earned £140 million over the last four years. Toto Wolff has held his shares in the team for several years through Motorsports Invest Limited, registered in Guernsey to avoid excessive taxes.
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Additional curiosities from Mercedes’ 2025 report
Mercedes reported that in 2025, McLaren cars were shown most often in TV broadcasts – 24% share. Due to poorer sporting results, Mercedes’ share fell from 15.5% in 2024 to 13.2% in 2025. The presence of the team’s cars generated an advertising equivalent for Mercedes and the team’s sponsors of $5.66 billion in 2025 – down from $5.7 billion in 2024. Based on the presented numbers, McLaren’s advertising equivalent exceeded $10 billion, which will be a clear record in F1 history.
Mercedes gained four million additional followers across various social media in 2025.
In Qiddiya, Saudi Arabia, construction of The Mercedes-AMG World of Performance is underway. The large center is being built right next to the new race track where F1 will compete in a few years. This is the first such Mercedes-AMG center being built together with the F1 team.
In November 2025, it was announced that George Kurtz (founder and CEO of CrowdStrike) purchased shares in the company through which Toto Wolff controls 33.3% of the F1 team shares. Kurtz bought 15% of the shares in this company; it was speculated he paid $300 million (the amount is not mentioned in the report).
The factory site modernization will be completed in the second half of 2026, including two new buildings. Mercedes is strongly focused on renewable energy.
During 2025, they changed their approach to their engineering division Mercedes-Benz Applied Science because their main contractor (INEOS) withdrew from America’s Cup participation. From this year, they stopped producing gearboxes and other parts for Aston Martin but replaced this with a contract with the Alpine team. The agreement with Alpine is not as extensive as with Aston Martin, which for many years also rented the aerodynamic tunnel from Mercedes.
Summary and outlook for the coming years
Over £130 million in net profit for Mercedes is probably a record in the entire history of F1. It is certainly a record among teams operating independently. Only Ferrari may do better financially, but there all F1-related finances are reported together with other company matters and cannot be reliably estimated. Mercedes has become an ideal team business-wise. It is a very large company employing over 1,300 people, providing technological development and huge advertising through participation in F1. Owners do not have to subsidize it, only earn. Not only do they gain great marketing benefits, but they also receive money.
The prospects for Mercedes in the coming years are excellent. Better sporting results will translate into higher bonuses from Liberty Media. The team acquired additional, very valuable sponsors before the 2026 season. A side effect of success is the need to pay bonuses to employees and rising driver salary expenses. Revenues will certainly increase in the coming years, but there is no guarantee that net profit will as well.
More articles about the financial results of various F1 teams and issues related to their finances can be found under the tag Budget.
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