Red Bull Spent Two Times More In 2019 Than What It Will Be Allowed In 2021

Red Bull spent $305.04 million dollars in its 2019 campaign to win the F1 world championship which is reflective of the challenges that the big teams are up against in light of the upcoming budget cap that's incoming. Next season teams will be only allowed to spend $145 million, though this number doesn't include things like driver salaries. This number was also achieved after a minor reduction of $2.95 million from 2018 which was preceded with years of increasing expenditure. The big three teams - Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are all in for major restructuring as the budget cap will not allow them to spend as much on their F1 programmes. Ferrari has also revealed that it is willing to explore participating in the Indy Car franchise to transfer some of its staff from F1. 

Red Bull has been one of the most successful teams of the last decade

"The directors consider race performance, Championship performance and a controlled cost base to be principal key performance indicators to assess progress towards strategic goals," said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

"Costs remain under control and the team is mindful of adaptions necessary for new financial regulations coming into force for 2021," he added. 

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner is at the center of the storm 
Photo Credit: AFP

Red Bull's racing unit remains profitable but just slightly as it made a profit of $0.79 million which is peanuts in the scheme of things. This number also fell when compared to what Red Bull made in 2018. It made $1.18 million in that year when it also finished P3 in the constructor's world championship behind Mercedes and Ferrari. 

Even these numbers are complicated as Red Bull's association with its parent company Red Bull Technologies is complex as it employs and hires a lot of the designing and manufacturing staff. The complications are compounded by the fact that Red Bull Technologies is the parent behind the sister AlphaTauri team and also works with Aston Martin on the Valkyrie project.  

The 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 world championships were won by Red Bull with Sebastian Vettel becoming world champion four years in a row, till 2014 ushered in the new hybrid era of F1 engines and Mercedes started to dominate.