Williams reported an increase in revenue during 2017 after reaching a deal with Mercedes to release Valtteri Bottas to the team.
The company’s F1 revenues rose from £116.7 million in 2016 to £125.6 million last year. Much of the difference is believed to be accounted for by the income gained from releasing Bottas from his contract, less the cost of re-hiring Felipe Massa for a one-off return season.
The team had Bottas under contract to race for them in 2017. However they reached a deal with Mercedes allowing him to join the team in place of Nico Rosberg, who retired suddenly at the end of 2016.Williams CEO Mike O’Driscoll said last year the team’s improved financial performance between the two years was due to “a one-off non-recurring item which we had to recognise in the first half of 2017.”
Revenues from other areas of the business fell to £1.1 million last year having been £13.8 million in 2016, when the team sold several of its old F1 cars.
O’Driscoll said the results “gave us confidence to continue investing in our facility and technical capabilities.”
“Our Formula One team maintained fifth place position in the FIA constructors’ championship for the second successive year.
“Williams Martini Racing was the only team, outside of the top three, to reach the podium in 2017, which was achieved by Lance Stroll at the Azerbaijan GP. This illustrates the large gap in competitive expenditure between the leading teams and the rest of the grid.
“We are hopeful that Liberty Media’s long-term vision for the future of the sport can deliver a more level playing field, on which all teams can compete more fairly. In the meantime, we are intensely focused on improving our own performance, following a tough start to this season’s campaign.”
Williams told RaceFans this month it will have to close if Liberty Media’s plans to reform F1’s financial structure are not realised. Its title sponsor Martini will leave the team at the end of this year.
2018 F1 season
- McLaren staff told us we were “totally crazy” to take Honda engines in 2018 – Tost
- ‘It doesn’t matter if we start last’: How Red Bull’s junior team aided Honda’s leap forward
- Honda’s jet division helped F1 engineers solve power unit problem
- McLaren Racing losses rise after Honda split
- Ricciardo: Baku “s***show” was Red Bull’s fault
Islander
20th April 2018, 12:18
Great!
Then it’s drinks all round on Sir Frank.
Todfod (@todfod)
21st April 2018, 5:17
Wondering how much they’ll make this year. They should be getting somewhere close to 30mln to 40mln from Stroll’s dad as well as 15mln from the Sirotkin camp. I guess if you add their historic payment, and take a worse case scenario of finishing last this year, they should still make around 110 million. Which isn’t as disastrous as their on track performance to be honest.
Sundar Srinivas Harish (@sundark)
21st April 2018, 14:59
It’s all well and good for Massa and fans to say that Williams is paying the price for prioritizing money over talent, but let’s face it, they need the money for the future. They’ve probably got a comprehensive medium or long term plan for the team, considering that Paddy Lowe joined them – he certainly wouldn’t want his reputation as a WCC/WDC-winning technical director to be sullied.