Sportingly, things did not want to work out so well for Mercedes in 2022, financially the German team had a top year. Annual accounts filed in the UK show that Mercedes Benz Grand Prix Ltd achieved a hefty increase in profits over its Formula 1 operations in '21. Toto Wolff and his co-directors could record almost £38 million more profit than a year earlier.

Running the Mercedes F1 Team is proving to be a lucrative business. Mercedes Benz Grand Prix Ltd's turnover increased by more than £91 million, from £383.3 million in 2021 to £474.5 million last year. The gains for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell's team came from an increase in F1 revenues (such as prize money), sponsorship income and thanks to the Applied Science division.

Less spending on labour costs

A decrease in personnel costs also made for higher profits. Although Mercedes Benz Grand Prix Ltd had 1114 people on its payroll (an increase of 110 employees), less was nevertheless paid out in wages. In 2021, it still paid £96 million, down from £82.1 million in the last financial year. This drop is due to the introduction of the budget cap, which forced top teams like Mercedes to cut their housekeeping.

Prize money in 2022 was around $87.6 million. Prize money is paid out in dollars by Formula One Management. That the prize money increased compared to a season earlier was partly due to the number of Grands Prix run in '21. Indeed, there were 22 races that season, compared to 17 races in the 2020 coronagraph. A season's prize money is only paid out in the following financial year, hence the 2021 prize money counts on the 2022 annual accounts.

The annual accounts also give an advance look ahead to 2023. The Mercedes F1 Team reports having received five million dollars less in prize money in 2022 - after losing the constructors' title to Red Bull Racing.