Renault fastest yet spends far less

Critics of Formula One sometimes say the world's most expensive form of motor racing is not a sport but a business, where the richest teams simply buy victories by raising the largest budgets.

That myth can finally be put to rest, as the news has emerged that Renault, the team that won the championship last year – and has won the first two races this season, which moves to Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday – had only the sixth-largest budget of the 10 teams last year.

That not only is good news for fans who believe in the sport; it also is good for Max Mosley, president of the International Automobile Federation, the sport's governing body, who is trying to create a new, cheaper Formula One. And no wonder he is. According to a study published in the March issue of F1 Racing magazine, the sport's 10 teams last year spent a total of nearly $3 billion to go racing.

The biggest spender, Toyota, had a budget of $494.55 million, or $26 million per race. Yet the team finished only fourth, while Renault won the championship with a budget of $287.56 million, or 58.1 percent of Toyota's budget. Toyota scored 88 points, while Renault scored 191. For each $1 million that the teams spent, Toyota scored only 0.18 points, while Renault scored 0.66. More at NYTimes