RBR spending hit record £200m in 2014

Editor

Red Bull Racing's spending hit new records in the last financial year as they became the first Formula 1 team to hit £200m in one season.

After winning four back-to-back Championships, the 2014 F1 season proved to be a difficult one for the Milton Keynes as they were overtaken by Mercedes in the pecking order and won only three races.

The sport changed to the new 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 hybrid engines at the start of 2014 and the team admit that "adapting to new technical regulations, in particular the adoption of a new power unit, were the most significant cost drivers".

Their latest accounts reveal that spending went up by £7.4m to £203.6m with research and development getting the biggest chunk of £80.8m.

Employee numbers increased by 19 to 294 and the total expenditure on staff pay rose to £62.9m, with team boss Christian Horner reportedly receiving £2.6m.

After months of speculation that Red Bull could pull out of F1 at the end of the season, Horner once again assured supporters that things won't change in the next year.

"(Our) ultimate parent undertaking, Red Bull GmbH, confirmed to the directors that it has no plans or intentions that would materially affect the ordinary operations of the company within the next 12 months," he told the Daily Telegraph.