In the round-up: McLaren Racing reported a strong increase in turnover last year which helped the racing team to a profit of over £30 million.
In brief
McLaren reports £30m profit
McLaren’s latest financial figures show the operation, which includes Formula 1, IndyCar and Formula E teams, increased its revenue by 31% from 2022 to 2023, generating £431 million last year. The team attributed the rise to greater sponsorship revenues across its teams and a fall in interest payments. It turned in a profit of £30.4m before tax compared to a £9m loss in the previous year.
Its F1 team’s on-track performance improved last year, when it rose from fifth in the championship to fourth. It has continued that upward trajectory this year, winning five grands prix and taking the lead of the constructors’ championship last month.
McLaren also revealed its total energy consumption remained largely static between the two years, falling slightly from 20.7 million kWh to 20.4m. However its greenhouse gas emissions rose from 4,159 tonnes of CO2 to 4,264 in 2023.
Slater takes Italian F4 crown
Prema driver Freddie Slater clinched his second Formula 4 championship this year last weekend. The 16-year-old who won the F4 UAE title earlier this year won the Italian series at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain, with one triple-header round remaining. Slater is also leading the Euro 4 championship which concludes at Monza this weekend.“Prema Racing gave me an incredible car all year,” said Slater. “We faced different conditions: rain, dry, and many different temperatures. Vincent, my engineer, did an incredible job, and the whole Prema team has been fantastic. Hopefully, there are a few more wins to add to the list. I still want more wins. I want to add to that record if I can.”
Assetto Corsa Evo release date announced
Assetto Corsa Evo will be launched on Steam Early Access on January 16th next year. Publisher 505 Games said the next edition in the series, which will run on a new proprietary engine, will be a significant step forward for the title, including support for full 24-hour races plus new lighting, dynamic weather and track conditions.
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Links
Andretti tells AP ‘timing was right’ for a restructuring of Andretti Global (AP News)
'And no, Andretti said with firm denial, he was not pushed out of IndyCar by series owner Roger Penske. 'Absolutely not. I would not give Roger that much credit.''
A 'perfect' year even with troubling luck: Aron on his 2024 season so far (Formula 2)
'In the last three qualifying (sessions), we have qualified twice on pole and once third. I think if we look at the season average, I am the best, if not, one of the best qualifiers this season.'
Career advice Q&A with Andrew Shovlin (Mercedes)
'Every team is keen for young talent, and we are all competing against each other to attract that. Often when we interview for an industrial placement here, they have also been interviewed at Red Bull, McLaren, and other teams. Everybody wants the best people to come and join them, and a lot of effort goes into doing that.'
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Social media
Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
Celebrating our Baku and Singapore wins together. 🧡 pic.twitter.com/tYmb5KaksK
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 30, 2024
Great question from a reader in the comments about whether the bonus point for fastest lap could have swung a championship since it was introduced. Here's my answer:https://t.co/0PDwPtRw0z#F1
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) September 30, 2024
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Renault abandoning their Formula 1 engine programme reflects very poorly on them, says Adam:
Such an unserious F1 team, and a loss for F1 to lose an entire PU – especially one with such history as Renault. What even is Alpine? They’re just there as a moving billboard for cars nobody cares about and really nothing says a lack of faith than knowing they willingly abandoned their own engine in favour of someone else’s. Terrible advert, really.
Adam (@Rocketpanda)
Happy birthday!
No RaceFans birthdays today
On this day in motorsport
- 35 years ago today Ayrton Senna dominated the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, reducing his points deficit to championship leader Alain Prost.
Nick T.
1st October 2024, 4:59
Some people whine about the budget cap, but an F1 team being profitable before it was basically unheard of. So, yeah, this is a much better way of doing things.
kuvemar
1st October 2024, 6:13
These days:
Back then:
This is the first result I’ve found, I’m not gonna dig any deeper than that.
F1 teams have always been mostly profitable, otherwise F1 wouldn’t exist.
anon
1st October 2024, 6:54
kuvemar, I think you’re rather optimistic to say that “F1 teams have always been mostly profitable” – there’s a reason why there’s been the long standing joke of “how do you make a small fortune in motorsport? Start with a large one”.
If “F1 teams have always been mostly profitable”, then it would beg the question of why so many teams that used to exist went bankrupt over the years – and since you refer to them, that claim of Jordan expecting a profit of £5 million sounds like cherry picking a particularly favourable year.
Jordan made a loss of £13.4 million in 2004, according to the accounts they filed at the time, and indeed the accounts they submitted from 2004 to 2016 showed the team making a financial loss in every one of those years. They’d had a few years of modest profit making, but also several years around that of financial losses (some smaller, and some rather more substantial).
MacLeod (@macleod)
1st October 2024, 8:29
In the past F1 team costs money and you had to be very rich untill advertisement came around they could make profit (remember that wasn’t why they do F1)
And those making profit are mostly the bigger teams there is a reason Williams had to sell their team …
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st October 2024, 13:57
Agree, it’s also my impression that teams rarely made profit and for the amount of investment profit has always been very little, so the budget cap made things better that way.
Nick T.
1st October 2024, 14:52
Please, don’t make me laugh, Kuvemar. If you really want me to waste time getting data I will, but anyone who’s been following F1 for decades know that F1 has long been an unprofitable venture for most over most seasons. RBR making a profit of just $15m in a year it won a title with a free PU supply and after teams finally started getting a more equitable share of commercial revenue is hardly remarkable nor proof of anything.
Ludewig
1st October 2024, 13:14
@Nick T
Keep in mind that there often is a sponsorship from the parent organisation to the racing team. This can make it seem like the racing team is profitable or breaking even, when it reality, the parent organisation is covering the losses.
For example, if the end result for Red Bull Racing is negative £10 million, but Red Bull the drinks company gives them £15 million, then the bookkeeping says that RB Racing make a profit, but overall, Red Bull the conglomerate makes a loss on racing.
But of course, there is value in a sponsorship/marketing, so the question becomes to what extent such payments from the parent company are just market-rate sponsorships, or whether they get something extra. But it is very impossible to determine what the proper rate would be.
Nick T.
1st October 2024, 14:56
Good points. I think it is much harder to gauge with a team like Red Bull how much profit F1 is bringing to the parent company and do you count that as revenue/profit. IMO, it would only be fair to as Red Bull wouldn’t be taking a big loss if the money they pumped in was covered by sales resulting from the product. However, I doubt there is much good data on just how many drinks RB sold that it wouldn’t have otherwise.
Nick T.
1st October 2024, 5:07
RE: COTD – I’m sure Renault is much more worried about how Adam feels this reflects on the team than:
a) getting a more competitive PU
b) no long being saddled by a PU program that doesn’t produce results + has no customers
c) the PU being an embarrassment to the team already
d) the fact that Alpine is a micro brand which can only benefit from the team producing better results regardless of the PU
e) they’ll now be just as unserious as McLaren
There are many good reasons to call Alpine/Renault an unserious team. This decision is not one of them.
Jungle
1st October 2024, 10:06
“The team attributed the rise to greater sponsorship revenues across its teams and a fall in interest payments.”
And not having to pay out Ricciardo this year…
Tristan
2nd October 2024, 4:06
I wonder if this is the reason the Andretti entry was denied, maybe F1 knew of the plans to “restructure” and let a new player into F1, rather than Andretti himself.
Nick T.
2nd October 2024, 18:25
Not sure what one has to do with the other.
Tristan
2nd October 2024, 21:16
I’m not sure either, I did say I wonder.
It would certainly have weakened the application if they knew. Why grant entry to someone who’s not going to be running the company before the entry even starts racing.
Nick T.
3rd October 2024, 3:05
Fair enough, but I think it’s fairly likely he stays involved with the F1 team if granted the entry (F1 would be a fresh and interesting new challenge while IndyCar was something he’s been involved with for nearly 50 years).
IMO, it shouldn’t make any difference if he isn’t personally with the day-to-day running of a team. Dieter never was. Same goes for many if not most individual owners. I also think there’s very little chance they knew, unless this has been in the works for a long time.