The racing squad hits one billion dollars in annual income.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas is generating around $1 billion in annual revenue at a 30% margin, according to team principal Toto Wolff. That works out to roughly $300 million in operating profit, a figure that places Formula 1 firmly among the most lucrative sports businesses on the planet. Wolff made the remarks during an appearance on Cheeky Pint, the Stripe podcast hosted by John Collison. The wide-ranging conversation covered engineering, management and the economics of modern Formula 1, including how Mercedes spots young driver talent and how it hires across roughly 2,500 employees.
What Wolff Said About Mercedes F1 Profit
Asked about the team’s financial figures, Wolff said Mercedes is generating around a billion dollars in revenue with a 30% profit margin. He then clarified the number, describing it as 300 million of EBIT, meaning earnings before interest and taxes.
He also made a bold comparison. Wolff said that, other than the Dallas Cowboys, Mercedes is probably generating the most profit of any sports team in the world. The word probably matters, because it shows Wolff was offering his own estimate rather than citing an audited ranking.
Wolff also described how the sport has changed. In Formula 1 before, he said, teams were all loss-making, whereas teams now distribute dividends. He contrasted that with American franchises, which he said often live in a debt environment because of how they are structured.
Why EBIT Is the Number That Matters
EBIT strips out interest and tax, so it shows how profitable the core racing business is before financing decisions. For a Formula 1 team, that makes it a cleaner measure than headline revenue. Wolff’s own view reflects this. He said he would never value a business on revenue, preferring return on investment, cash flow and profit.
He pointed to the cost structure as one reason the margins hold up. Wolff noted that Mercedes does not carry heavy capital expenditure because it does not own a stadium, unlike many franchises in American sports.
The budget cap also featured in the discussion. The cap of about $200 million a year counts every engineering hour, and Wolff said it has moved engineering time toward the current and next seasons’ cars and away from long-range research.
Wolff also drew on his earlier experience with Williams. Going public, he said, was not a success, and in this sport things swing from mania to depression within a week.
How the $1 Billion Compares With Filed Accounts
It is important to separate Wolff’s round figure from the numbers the team has filed. The most recent filed accounts, covering 2024, showed revenue of £636 million, or about $856 million, and net profit of about £120 million, or $161 million. Those figures were up from £546.5 million in revenue and £83.8 million in net profit the year before. The accounts also showed a £125 million dividend paid to shareholders, in which Wolff, as a one-third owner, shared.
Reported figures put 2025 revenue at about $865 million, and the team could become the first in Formula 1 to pass $1 billion in revenue this year. Wolff’s billion-dollar figure should therefore be treated as a rounded or forward-looking estimate rather than a number taken from published accounts. Net profit and EBIT are also different measures, so the 2024 net profit should not be compared directly with the 30% EBIT margin Wolff described.
Mercedes F1 Valuation and the Cowboys Comparison
During the conversation, Collison cited a transaction that valued the Mercedes team at £4.6 billion, a roughly sevenfold increase in a few years. Wolff did not dispute it. Using the $300 million EBIT figure, the discussion put that valuation at about 15 times operating profit.
Wolff argued that American sports teams are often valued on revenue multiples. He said applying the approach used in recent American franchise sales would value Mercedes at between $10 billion and $12 billion, but he stressed that he values on cash flow and profit and has no interest in selling. Ownership is split between Wolff, Mercedes-Benz and INEOS, with each holding one third.
The Cowboys claim deserves context. Published sports-finance rankings for 2026 put the Cowboys far ahead with an estimated $629 million in operating income, while Mercedes ranked fifth with $227 million in EBITDA for 2024. Those figures cover a different period and use a different measure, so Wolff’s claim may reflect newer numbers, but the ranking does not confirm it.
What It Means for Formula 1 in 2026
Wolff’s comments reflect how far the sport’s finances have moved. Teams that once lost money now pay dividends, and a scarce pool of just 11 teams has become a sought-after asset class. Mercedes also counts sponsors such as Petronas and Microsoft among its commercial partners.
Wolff listed several reasons team valuations have climbed: scarcity, demand for trophy assets, the appeal to very wealthy buyers, and now solid financial fundamentals.
ALSO READ: Ferrari Unveils Blueprint Livery for Austin F1 GP
For readers and analysts, the takeaway is clear. The headline numbers come from Wolff himself, on a podcast, and are rounded estimates rather than audited accounts. Even so, they show a team operating with healthy margins in a sport once defined by financial strain. When Mercedes files its next accounts, the figures will show how close the $1 billion and $300 million claims come to reality.
Follow us
Never Miss an F1 Update!
Join the AutodromeF1 Formula 1 community for real-time race commentary, paddock news, and 2026 calendar updates across your favorite platforms: