What's your F1 "elephant in the room"?

That people believe that equal payments will solve some kind of problem that the sport has.

For those who think the distribution of money is to blame for the troubles on the F1 grid this is a brief explanation of how the money actually works (and why even distribution wouldn't make much difference to the mid-field teams).

The profit is split 60/40 in favor of the teams (63% of 1.18 billion in 2012 and around 60% of 1.4 billion in 2013). The remainder is then split again into two types of payment and distributed among the 11 teams after Ferrari receive an ex-gratia payment ( this was $17.5 million in 2013).

  • Category 1 payments which are shared EQUALLY so long as you have finished inside the top 10 for 3 years in a row.
  • Category 2 payments which are based on racing performance but require being in the top 10 of the constructors championship at the end of the season.

In 2013 10 teams received $34.12 million in Category 1 payments. Marriusia didn't get anything because it had not yet had three seasons in the top 10. Caterham didn't get any Category 2 money because it was outside the top 10. Of the teams allegedly in trouble now Sauber got $58 million, Williams $51.2 million, Force India $64.8 million, Lotus $71.62 million. Of the bankrupt teams Marrusia got $13.6 million, and Caterham $34.12 million.

If the fund had been shared equally each team would have received 62 million - which is not enough to make a serious difference to Sauber, Force India or Williams - in-fact Force India and Lotus would have received LESS.

This is a big difference for the bottom two teams, but not much difference for the mid-field ones. F1 teams don't go under for the lack of a few million, they go under for the lack of tens of millions.

2013 Distribution:- Red Bull $98.97m Mercedez $88.72 Ferrari $96m Lotus $71.62m McLaren $68.22m Force India $64.8m Sauber $58m Toro Rosso $54.6m Williams $51.2m Marussia $13.6m Caterham $34.12m

To provide some idea of costs, Caterham is spending 60 million a year, Mercedes is spending 300 million. HAAS is entering in 2016 with a planned first season budget of around 200 million.

The real problem is costs, and even then this only applies to teams that don't have any other underlying business backing the team.

/r/formula1 Thread