Forbes has shared the financial standings of eight of the 11 Formula One teams from the end of the 2013 season.
The table does not include numbers for the Ferrari, Sauber or - now defunct - Caterham F1 teams that were competing in 2013.
Among the most eye-popping numbers are the $200-plus million in debts that the Lotus Formula One team had.
For the 2014 season, Lotus signed Pastor Maldonado, who brought with him his Venezuela backing to the team, which certainly would have helped them out some over the past couple of seasons - despite perhaps for some extra expense bills for several avoidable crashes that Maldonado has been involved in.
However, things still have not been going well for Lotus, as their cars were impounded following the Belgian Grand Prix on Aug. 23 when former reserve driver Charles Pic claimed that the team had not fulfilled its side of their contract with him.
The Enstone-based Lotus team was formerly Renault, until it sold a majority stake in the team to Genii Capital. However, due to the team’s financial difficulties, reports are circulating that Renault may be looking to buy back the team - currently powered by the dominant Mercedes engines - at the end of the 2015 season.
Forbes breaks down F1 teams' incomes with 37 percent coming from sponsorship, 35 percent from prize money and 19 percent from payments from team owners.
At the Belgian Grand Prix, Romain Grosjean scored Lotus’ first podium finish of the season in third place, which certainly would’ve helped it bring in some prize money. However, with just eight rounds left in the 2015 World Championship and less than eight months until the 2016 season opener, one has to wonder if its too late for Lotus to save its chances of continuing on as it is into the next season.
The reason that the teams are able to survive despite this major debt is best summed up in this two-paragraph passage from the Forbes report:
If the owner is a private individual they can take an annual salary which comes out as a cost to the team. If the owner of a team is a company which sells products, such as Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull, the benefit they get whilst the team runs to break-even comes from television exposure of their logos on the cars.
In a nutshell, teams receive enough money to keep going whilst the owners take a salary or get marketing exposure for their products. Teams are not designed to make profit but to win which increases their value when they are sold.
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