Despite their utter domination, Mercedes lost a significant amount of money – to the tune of $117 million – in the 2014 Formula One season, according to recently released financial records. When Lewis Hamilton ran away with the majority of the races last year, Mercedes easily won both the team championship and driver championship. But those twin runaways did not translate into more money flowing into Mercedes’ coffers. In fact, it resulted in exactly the opposite as Mercedes had to deal with race regulation changes that added to their operating costs and because of the wins, was forced to pay out $11 million in bonuses to staff.
The 2015 Formula One season continues with the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi at 4 a.m. [PDT] on NBCSN on October 11, 2015.