The turnover of the Mercedes F1 team surprisingly continues to increase despite the side’s continued struggles on the track. In the entirety of the last two campaigns, the team has recorded just one win. Moreover, when it comes to seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, it gets worse. The 39-year-old last recorded a win at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Despite such struggles for the Silver Arrows, they yet registered a record $680 million turnover for the 2023 calendar year, according to Autosport. This is a whopping increase of $89.4 million from the figure achieved in 2022.
Interestingly, Red Bull, who dominated the 2022 season, recorded a turnover of only $479.6 million in stark contrast. While Mercedes by far have the highest turnover among any of the F1 teams, it is pertinent to note that their profits decreased from last year.
In 2022, Mercedes recorded $111.5 million in profits. However, that figure dropped to $104.2 million this year. Since Lewis Hamilton will leave the Silver Arrows at the end of the 2024 campaign, there is a likelihood that both their turnover and profits may decline even further.
The Briton is arguably the greatest driver of all time, and losing such a figure is likely to negatively impact Mercedes’ brand value, until and unless they can find a solid replacement in the upcoming months. However, for Ferrari, they witnessed exactly the opposite effect after signing Hamilton.
Ferrari’s market cap increased by $10 billion after Lewis Hamilton’s announcement
Soon after Lewis Hamilton announced a few months ago that he would leave Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025, the Italian automaker’s market cap increased by a whopping $10 billion. Since Ferrari’s share price increased by such a massive amount, an F1 content creator claimed that the company has already profited by signing Hamilton without the Briton having even stepped into the car for them.
While speaking on the Red Flags podcast, co-host Matt Elisofon said, “It’s already paid for itself and then some. How much money they gave him, $500-600 million? It’s already paid for itself. This is a steal. This is an absolute steal!”
Similarly, F1 expert Karun Chandhok also claimed that Hamilton’s announcement to Ferrari is worth $4 billion. At the time, the Indian expert put up his post, Ferrari’s valuation had increased by $4 billion that day. However, little did he realize, that Ferrari’s valuation would surge by another $6 billion on the same day.
In comparison to this staggering increase in Ferrari’s valuation, the company will only reportedly pay Hamilton $435 million in total. This amount not only includes the seven-time champion’s driver contract salary but also includes add-ons and other perks. It is for this reason that experts believe that Ferrari have already profited by signing Hamilton.
