PaddockIntel Reference
F1 Economics Glossary
The regulatory and financial terms behind every contract, cap, and payout in Formula 1 — defined once, cited to real sources.
Regulations
Anti-Dilution FeeThe anti-dilution fee is what a new team pays the existing grid to join F1 — compensation for shrinking everyone else's slice of the shared prize-money pool. The 2021 Concorde Agreement set the floor at $200 million; Cadillac paid $450 million, split among the ten incumbent teams, to secure its 2026 entry.Concorde AgreementThe Concorde Agreement is the private contract between the FIA, Formula One Management, and every competing team that defines how F1 is actually run: how TV and commercial revenue is split, each team's obligation to enter every race, and the entry terms for new constructors. The cost cap and entry fee both live inside it. The current agreement covers the 2026–2030 period.Cost CapF1's cost cap is a hard annual spending limit on car performance — $215 million for 2026 — designed to stop the richest teams from simply outspending the field. It covers car design, development, and race operations, but excludes driver salaries, marketing, and each team's three highest-paid staff, so it caps performance spending specifically, not total team revenue.
Revenue
Hosting FeeThe hosting fee is what a circuit or race promoter pays Formula One Management every year for the right to put a Grand Prix on the calendar — typically $15–55 million annually, owed regardless of attendance, weather, or how good the race actually was. It's F1's most predictable revenue stream and made up roughly 29% of the sport's total revenue in 2024.Prize MoneyF1 distributes roughly $1.6 billion a year to the teams — about 45% of its total operating income — almost entirely based on constructors' championship position, not individual race results. Unlike most sports, there's no separate payout for winning a Grand Prix; the entire season's points table determines each team's cut once, at year-end.