F1 2025 prize money payouts revealed: McLaren crowned champions as Ferrari steal the spoils

Despite McLaren clinching both world championships in 2025, the Papaya squad didn’t claim the biggest slice of Formula 1’s prize money.

PlanetF1.com has calculated that McLaren earned almost $166 million in prize money during the F1 2025 season as Liberty Media saw revenues climb to $3.87 billion.

McLaren’s F1 2025 prize money total leaves it behind Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull

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Financial results released by Liberty Media have offered a glimpse into the turbocharged payments teams received during the F1 2025 season with the prize money pool accelerating by $134 million year on year.

Its annual report shows record revenue for Formula 1, despite a sluggish start to the year which saw it drop $150 million over the opening quarter in 2024.

However, a strong Q2 saw that reserve as Liberty posted revenues of $1.2 billion, before a record quarter to end the year in which it pulled in $1.375 billion.

Approximately 45 percent of Liberty Media’s annual revenue from Formula 1 is paid out to teams as prize money.

Having won the F1 2024 Constructors’ Championship, McLaren was entitled to the largest share of the prize pool. However, that is only after accounting for a series of other payments made to the 10 teams on the grid last year.

The precise figure teams receive is a closely guarded secret under the terms of the Concorde Agreement, though is understood to include a base five percent payment to Ferrari, and a matrix of success-related payments based on the top three teams across each of the last 10 seasons.

That’s understood to have entitled Williams to an additional $4.7 million last year courtesy of finishing third in the Constructors’ Championship in 2015. However, having not finished in the top three in the championship since 2015, Williams will lose that entitlement when it comes to prize money payments throughout the year ahead.

By contrast, Mercedes continues to reap strong financial benefits owing to its domination of the hybrid era. Its performances in the same 10-year period from 2015 meant it was entitled to a further $112 million. Success during that same period meant Red Bull enjoyed $74.7 million and Ferrari $70 million in F1 2025.

Prior to its 2024 title win, McLaren had only achieved a top three Constructors’ Championship result once in the past decade, when it finished third in 2020. As a consequence, it received a success bonus of just $18.7 million.

In total, $1.4 billion was paid out to teams in F1 2025 according to Liberty Media’s full year filings, with the basic prize money pool calculated after the above payments have been made.

That left a total of $1.05 billion to be split among the 10 teams based on a sliding scale. Each team’s entitlement was based on their championship position the year prior – F1 2024.

As world champions, that entitled McLaren to the largest slice, worth around $147.1 million, or 14 percent, of the available pool. By finishing 10th in F1 2024, Sauber by contrast was awarded $63.1 million.

That left McLaren with a total of $165.8 million in prize money payments, making it only the fourth highest-earner in Liberty’s payment structure.

Topping that list was Ferrari, which banked $277.7 million, over half of which came courtesy of its special payment as well as historic payments for its performances over the preceding decade.

Mercedes was the next highest earner, with $230.8 million paid to it throughout F1 2025, including the aforementioned $112 million courtesy of its track record.

Red Bull also pipped McLaren in the prize money stakes, taking home $202.8 million, with $128.2 million of that a result of finishing third in the F1 2024 Constructors’ Championship.

While its distribution remains far from straightforward, prize money payments are now more equitable than they were.

And a key difference is that, from the introduction of the previous Concorde Agreement in 2021, all teams are eligible for prize money. Previously, only the top 10 were.

For the most part that has been somewhat irrelevant as only 10 teams competed, but the arrival of F1 2026 changes those calculations.

Under the Concorde Agreement, up to 12 teams are permitted to compete in the world championship. Once their entry is accepted, they are eligible for prize money payments from their first year.

Previously, a team had to compete for three seasons before being eligible for prize money, marking a significant change.

That also proved a thorny issue during the Dan Towriss-led operation’s attempts to join the grid, with rivals arguing the financial impact on them proved a significant risk – Williams’ James Vowles was especially outspoken.

His arguments came despite all teams in recent seasons benefiting from inflated payments given only 10 teams competed.

To soften the blow, an anti-dilution fee was introduced. Part of the 2021 Concorde, it was set at $200 million, a figure chosen at a time when the sport was in a less healthy position and a fee intended to compensate others on the grid for five years of lost commercial income as a direct result of a new team entering.

However, as Cadillac arrived for F1 2026, and at a time when there was no Concorde in effect, it negotiated a $450 million figure, or $45 million lump sum to each of the existing 10 teams.

From F1 2026, it means the prize money pool will be divided 11 ways instead of 10, though the usual matrix of success bonuses remains in place.

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Using Liberty Media’s 2025 results as a guide, that will see Cadillac entitled to around $63 million in prize money through F1 2026. Conversely, McLaren’s split as championship winners, would drop to around $127.9 million.

Offsetting that is the expected growth of F1’s revenue. That grew by $462 million in 2025, helping boost the prize money paid to teams.

Should that trend continue, it’s reasonable to expect prize money payments to surpass their 2025 levels despite the addition of an 11th team.

F1 2025 Prize Money Payments

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