Renault fastest yet spends far less
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