Although Max Verstappen and his Red Bull squad have dominated their opponents this season, they will have to pay a price to have the opportunity to defend their titles in 2024.
Red Bull is prepared to pay a record-breaking entry fee into Formula 1 for the upcoming season in order to defend the titles they have already won.
This year’s champions have been so dominant that the constructors’ championship was decided at the Japanese Grand Prix last month. Two weeks later in Qatar, Max Verstappen secured his third drivers’ championship.
Additionally, the group is headed for a record-breaking season with the most points earned. They only missed Mercedes’ record of 765 points from the previous year, but they came very close to surpassing it.
Red Bull is presently ranked 706th in 2023, with four complete race weekends remaining. Additionally, an additional 15 points could be earned in addition to the points awarded for the Grand Prix outcomes as usual thanks to one final Sprint event in Brazil.
Whether or not that record is surpassed, one thing is certain: Red Bull will have to pay a hefty entry fee to compete in 2024. The most recent iteration of the athletic regulations for the upcoming season shows an increase in the amount that all teams must pay.
Each of the ten competitors pays a one-time fee that rises in accordance with their combined point total from the previous season. The base fee for each team in 2023 was £509,647. This amount is scheduled to increase by 6.5 percent for the following season, requiring all participants to pay at least £542,774 each.
Last year, the champions had to pay £6,114 per point scored in the previous campaign on top of that, while everyone else’s per-point fee was slightly lower at £5,094. It meant Red Bull, as champions and having scored 759 points in 2022, had to pay a huge £5,150,173 just to enter this year.
The entry fees rise this year means the champions will pay £6,512 per point gained in 2023, while everyone else will have to fork out £5,425. Even if Red Bull did not score another point between now and the end of this season, their 2024 entry fee already stands at a total of £5,140,246.
So just two more points will see them pass their previous record entry fee. And the amount they will have to shell out is already double that of their nearest competitors, with both Mercedes and Ferrari both currently having bills under £2.5m.
There is a maximum of 191 more points up for grabs for Red Bull across the final four race weekends, if Verstappen and Sergio Perez were to finish first and second in every race, including the Brazil Sprint, and set the fastest lap in all four Grands Prix. So there is the potential for up to £1,243,792 extra being added to their 2024 entry fee on top of the total they are already obliged to fork out.
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