F1 Prize Money: McLaren beaten by THREE rivals despite winning 2025 title

McLaren may have taken home both F1 championships in 2025 but they were only the fourth-best paid team on the grid, and the constructor who took home the biggest chunk of the prize money last year may surprise you.

F1 owners Liberty Media have just released their annual financial and operating results report, which reveals how much prize money was handed out to the constructors' during the 2025 championship.

Liberty Media acquired 100 per cent of the rights to the Formula One Group in 2017, taking over the commercial rights and catapulting the sport's popularity thanks to marketing tactics such as the hit Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive.

The American media company have transformed F1 into one of the most popular sports in the world and their latest financial report showed that they brought in a record revenue total of $3.9 billion in 2025, an increase of 14 per cent from the previous year.

READ MORE: Mercedes handed F1 2026 blow as FIA power unit talks take fresh twist

Ferrari topped F1 rivals with 2025 prize money

A whopping total of $1.4 billion was also revealed in Liberty Media's report as being allocated to the F1 prize money pot, with the amount increased to align with the boost in total revenue for the sport.

But despite McLaren winning the drivers' championship with Lando Norris and the constructors' title with the help of the Brit and his team-mate Oscar Piastri, it was in fact Ferrari who took home the biggest chunk of the $1.4 billion prize fund. According to rough financial estimations as per PlanetF1, The Scuderia earned roughly $277.7m across 2025, with Mercedes coming in second for the most prize money with around $230.7m having headed their way.

McLaren were still beaten by Red Bull on the prize money front, with the energy drink giants taking home something like $202.9m last year, whilst McLaren picked up the fourth-highest amount, earning an estimated $165.8m.

This is because F1 prize money is paid out on the previous year's championship results, so the above results came about thanks to the finishing order of the 2024 constructors' standings.

But McLaren also took home the team title in 2024, so how did they end up with less prize money than three of their rivals?

How is F1 prize money calculated?

Following a change in the 2021 Concorde Agreement, all F1 teams are now eligible for a chunk of the prize money pot, whereas only the top 10 constructors were able to fight for it in the past.

This hasn't been an issue in the sport since this change came into place however due to the fact that there are only 10 teams on the grid anyway, even though the latest Concorde Agreement does permit a maximum of 12 constructors' to compete and earn prize money from their first year in the sport.

This means 2026 newcomers Cadillac will be eligible to pick up a chunk of the prize money throughout their maiden season.

The exact process of prize money allocation and precise figures received by F1 teams is kept somewhat under lock and key thanks to the Concorde Agreement, though it is understood to include a five percent payment to Ferrari.

There is also a plethora of performance-related payments based on the top three teams across the past 10 seasons, meaning that Mercedes still benefit from their championship domination of F1's hybrid era.

So, even though McLaren were entitled to the largest chunk of the prize money due to winning the 2024 constructors’ championship, that amount would only be allocated after F1 had taken into account the numerous other payments made to the 10 teams on the grid last year.

The papaya F1 squad may have been the ones to beat in 2024 and 2025, but across the last decade as a whole they have been more of a struggling midfield team, meaning they pick up less performance-based benefits for their success, or lack thereof, across the last 10 seasons.

The fact that Zak Brown's outfit only finished in the top three of the team standings once in 2020 prior to their back-to-back title success in 2024 and 2025 means they stood to pick up less of a success bonus than some of their rivals, hence why they found themselves way down in fourth on the list of prize money beneficiaries in 2025.

READ MORE: Mercedes handed F1 2026 blow as FIA power unit talks take fresh twist

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