Red Bull faces $7.4m entry fee hangover from record-breaking F1 2023 season

The Milton Keynes-based squad delivered one of the most dominant performances in F1 history this season, with its drivers winning 21 out of 22 races and securing both world championship titles quite early. 

Its tally of 860 points well eclipsed the previous record haul from a season which was held by Mercedes when it amassed 765 during its 2016 title double. 

However, such success does not come without some pain, and in F1 terms it means that Red Bull is facing the biggest official entry fee that a team has ever paid. 

Ever since 2013, as part of a revised Concorde Agreement that came into force that year, the FIA has based entry fees for each competitor on the number of points scored in the previous season. This originally started with a base fee of $500,000 plus $5000 per point scored, with the constructors’ champion paying $6000. 

This figure has steadily risen due to inflation and for 2024 now stands at $657,837 for the base fee, plus $6575 per point scored for all teams apart from the constructors’ champion which must pay $7893. 

Off the back of Red Bull's huge haul this year, it means it must pay $7,445,817 to the FIA by 10 December to have its entry for 2024 confirmed. 

The scale of its dominance is clear with second-placed Mercedes, which totted up 409 points, only having to pay $3,347,012, with third-placed Ferrari’s 406 points meaning it must pay $3,327,287. 

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, celebrates on arrival in Parc Ferme

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner admitted that the record-breaking fee his team was paying was eye-watering, but said that it was an inevitable consequence of the scale of success the squad had achieved in 2023. 

"I mean, it’s a luxury problem to have because we’ve had to score the points to generate the invoice,” he told Motorsport.com. “Thankfully, it’s outside of the budget cap.  

“But, yeah, it’s a big cheque to be writing to the FIA." 

Red Bull could have ended up with an even bigger fee if Sergio Perez had delivered more over the campaign, and the team had not missed out on victory at the Singapore Grand Prix. 

That Singapore result proved to be the single race that prevented a Red Bull clean sweep this year, but it is something that Horner insisted did not leave the team kicking itself. 

Asked if there was a sense of annoyance about missing out on an historic campaign of winning every race, Horner said: “No. It leaves you humbled that there is still something to strive for, and it’s a useful lesson that things can change quickly. Singapore was a standout weekend. 

"I never dreamt about it [the clean sweep] and you guys [the media] have been asking me since about race three, ‘Do you think you can win all the races this year?’.   

“To win 21 out of the 22 races is insanity. For Max to have led over 1000 laps, for him to have won 19 races, to have broken McLaren’s record from ’88, to have broken Seb’s [Vettel] record from 2013 – the win ratios, all the percentages that he’s hit… 

“This car will go down in history certainly for a considerable period of time as the most successful car in Formula 1 history.”  

The full list of entry fees that teams must pay for next year is below: