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Mercedes has again proven a Formula 1 team can be successful financially by recording a significant jump in profits for 2022.
The published accounts for Mercedes Benz Grand Prix Ltd show an increase in gross profit, compared to 2021, of just under £38 million (AU$72.64m; US$46.59m).
The figure is based on a sharp rise in turnover of just over £91m, from £383.3m in 2021 to £474.5m last year, based on an increase in F1 revenues, sponsorships, and through its Applied Science division.
As F1 constructors’ champions in 2021, the carryover figure into 2022 in terms of prize money is understood to be US$87.6m (£71.37m; AU$136.54).
There was an increase in that figure given there were 22 races in 2021 compared to just 17 in the Covid-hit year of 2020.
Due to its fall in last season’s constructors’ championship to third, however, the company is expected to lose around US$5m from the prize fund, looking ahead to its projected 2023 accounts.
Overall, the net profit, following tax deductions, is just under £90m, an increase of £21m against the accounts from 2021.
Despite an increase in average monthly staff numbers from 1,004 to 1,114, wages dropped by almost £14m from £96m in 2021 to £82.1m last year.
Mercedes is continuing to work on its Accelerate 25 initiative, a five-year programme aimed at recruiting 25 percent of new starters from under-represented backgrounds.
Following the second year of the scheme, Mercedes exceeded expectations as 32 percent of new starters in 2022 were from under-represented backgrounds.
In addition, female employees rose from 14 to 16 percent, whilst employees from minority ethnic groups increased from six to eight percent.
In its accounts, signed off by team principal Toto Wolff, who is one of the seven directors of the company, it states the Mercedes-Benz brand has grown in value from US$31.9bn in 2013 to US$56.1bn in 2021, with F1 “making an important contribution to the brand’s status as the eighth most valuable in the world”.
Applied Science is also now a key part of Mercedes via bespoke engineering, with the company “working with several key clients on exciting projects”, which includes support to INEOS Britannia’s bid for the 37th America’s Cup.
The accounts state that Applied Science’s growth “has been a positive step in the redeployment of resources enabled by the introduction of the financial regulations (cost cap).”
During the financial year, the company also successfully completed the acquisition of real estate assets for its Brackley campus, providing it with a “more secure, robust and autonomous business model for the future” which will “enable significant investment into cutting-edge, net-zero-carbon facilities as the campus is developed”.
