22 replies to this topic

[readonly]

F1 cars cost a lot, we all know that, but who knows quite accurately how much would each team ask to sell their current racer?

 

I assume they would ask a lot more than what they paid to build it. Also, of course, this price would depend on the results as they are known race by race.

 

If anyone can make an educated estimate, would you share here please?

Thanks.
 

 

[Afterburner]

I think the Andretti/Cadillac saga taught us $350 million wasn’t enough.

[1player]

It's very hard to say and it would be a meaningless number. Even an iPhone, if only one was produced, would be worth tens of million of dollars. You can get an estimate in material costs, but that's peanuts compared to the real cost to developing anything: research, personnel and a lot of time and effort.

 

I would say, starting from scratch, it's in the $1-10 billion range. I don't think anyone would sell a 2025 F1-capable car below this price.

Edited by 1player, 15 March 2025 - 09:28.

[pdac]

The cost of anything is dependent on how many people want to sell, how many items are available and how many people want to buy. In this case, I doubt there would be many/any up for sale and if there were, there would probably be many potential buyers.

 

If the seller(s) do not need to sell, then they will wait for the potential buyers to outbid each other and then decide whether they price is worth it to them. If the seller(s) have to make a sale, then they will only wait long enough to determine what a buyer might be prepared to pay.

 

Essentially, it's impossible to determine a price apart from saying that the seller(s) would hope not to make a loss, which would then put the cost at or above the total manufacturing cost of an F1 car.

 

Maybe this question should have been posted to the stupid question thread.

Edited by pdac, 15 March 2025 - 12:43.

[Sterzo]

F1 cars cost a lot, we all know that, but who knows quite accurately how much would each team ask to sell their current racer?

It's 2025 and nobody builds F1 cars to sell them. If they sold you one, then one driver would have nothing to race.

[PlatenGlass]

I'd be interested in how much it costs to make one. Obviously you've got development etc., but let's say that's all done and a team just has to build another copy of their current car.

[GrzegorzChyla]

I think when considering a 2025 car price, the most important part of it would be know-how. Selling a car you would have to sell all the details. I don't mean they are illegal, just a piece if knowledge

[readonly]

Of course teams won't sell for a price that does not cover their development costs. If they sold, they should be happy to sell the car even giving away he chance that a rival team would grab it and reverse engineer it. Would it be 10 million as 1player said? or would they only sell it for above the 350 million that Afterburner hinted? Who would/could pay for it?

[crooky369]

I think there'd be a massive variance on price depending on whether they're a top team or not, whether it's close to the end a period of regulations (2026 car will be far more valuable than a 2025 car imo) and even the time of the season it was sold.

A 2025 car from Haas near the end of the season might not be too much. Whereas a 2026 from Aston Martin would have far more value.

[readonly]

Would you like to know? What if this was revealed race by race? Isn't this interesting information to you?

[pdac]

Would you like to know? What if this was revealed race by race? Isn't this interesting information to you?

 

As long as they would confirm whether or not the catering costs were included.

[lamo]

I'd be interested in how much it costs to make one. Obviously you've got development etc., but let's say that's all done and a team just has to build another copy of their current car.

I belive this is about £1.5m for the car and £2m for the hybrid engine, so £3.5m pure manufacturing cost

[readonly]

What if cars were auctioned after each race? Teams could enter the auction if they want to keep their cars.

[mclarensmps]

I'd be interested in how much it costs to make one. Obviously you've got development etc., but let's say that's all done and a team just has to build another copy of their current car.

Yeah I would be most interested in knowing just the pure production costs of building a car. That would include all parts, and production related labour, but excluding R&D+Testing+Development. 

 

[pdac]

What if cars were auctioned after each race? Teams could enter the auction if they want to keep their cars.

 

But if the team were the recipients of the proceeds, then they could just outbid everyone else. The winner would be whoever was charging for conducting the auction (especially if they took a percentage of the sale price) and, of course, the inland revenue, who would take tax on the sale price.

[BRG]

What if cars were auctioned after each race? Teams could enter the auction if they want to keep their cars.

That is what is know as a seller's plate, and has been used for the odd race series where the winning car MUST be put up for sale.  But these are generally series where the cars are supposed to be identical so the idea is really to stop any "exploitation of loopholes" ....or cheating as we used to call it!

[kumo7]

i don’t know if it makes sense at all to know the possible cost of current F1 cars. the team will not sell it as it is racing currently, the car will not run without the whole team, that isn’t a parts. it cost as much as having aF1 team i think.

[F1 Mike]

It's not just the car the teams are developing year on year, they are constantly developing their manufacturing and testing processes. They are making improvements to simulation, casting, machining, carbon fibre curing etc, as well as the cost of the personnel and skills. All of these would be factored in to the cost. I'm sure I read that in the first stint of the new V6 hybrid era, Mercedes were spending over 150 million a year developing their PU

[Nathan]

I'll peg manufacturing costs at 3-4 million?

Ball park 15,000 man hours at 50/hr = 750k, 10,000 machining hours at 75/hr = 750k, 2-2.5 million in 'off the shelf' components & materials.

 

At the retail level, probably triple the labour costs and add 25% to the base material costs? I dunno... Add shop fees, that puts us at around 8 million out the door, plus whatever development cost you'd want to pass along.  The gravy is in the owner(s) coming back for rebuilds every 2-3000kms.

[pdac]

I'll peg manufacturing costs at 3-4 million?

Ball park 15,000 man hours at 50/hr = 750k, 10,000 machining hours at 75/hr = 750k, 2-2.5 million in 'off the shelf' components & materials.

 

At the retail level, probably triple the labour costs and add 25% to the base material costs? I dunno... Add shop fees, that puts us at around 8 million out the door, plus whatever development cost you'd want to pass along.  The gravy is in the owner(s) coming back for rebuilds every 2-3000kms.

 

You forgot to add tax.

[readonly]

I think it would be very interesting to see the difference in price from team to team, whatever it is they consider worth to sell their cars each race. Perhaps RedBull would sell only for 25 Million because their tech secrets would be revealed in case they had to sell. That money would be enough compensation. Perhaps Sauber would have no secrets to reveal and sell for much less, say 6 Million.

[Pete_f1]

I remember when you could find the odd F1 car for sale in the Autosport classifieds.

[kumo7]

I'll peg manufacturing costs at 3-4 million?

Ball park 15,000 man hours at 50/hr = 750k, 10,000 machining hours at 75/hr = 750k, 2-2.5 million in 'off the shelf' components & materials.

At the retail level, probably triple the labour costs and add 25% to the base material costs? I dunno... Add shop fees, that puts us at around 8 million out the door, plus whatever development cost you'd want to pass along. The gravy is in the owner(s) coming back for rebuilds every 2-3000kms.

so with this a spec series could run. but yet again there are lots of open wheel formula cars that are already on the show with price tag. F1 is F1 because it has huge interest in developing unique competition cars. so the scheme must include it otherwise it is a replica, reproduction. i wonder if it fits the question: “Live current car”.

Edited by kumo7, 23 March 2025 - 01:26.