Red Bull Motorsports
F1
How much does a Formula One car cost – and where can you buy one?
Owning an F1 car is a dream for race fans but could you make it a reality? Yes, but you’ll need a lot of cash.
An F1 car is the apex of motor racing technology: crafted by some of the most brilliant engineering minds to deliver peak performance on track. Race after race, they're modified and refined in the pursuit of unlocking more speed and faster laps. They're as rare as they are sought-after with only 22 on the grid. And by the end of the year, they are out of date and will be replaced by a new model. So what is the cost of a brand-new F1 car and could you buy one after it’s finished racing? Let’s delve into the world of the F1 car market…
01
How much does a new Formula One car cost?
Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson in the 2026 RB22 and VCARB03
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
- Budget: At least €15m
Putting a price on a current F1 car is not easy: partly because much of the technology used to make them is secret, but mostly because they’re not for sale. However, as F1 teams work to a set budget and with some very rough maths, maybe we can puzzle it out to arrive at a price. The cost cap for 2026 is $215m – minus driver salaries and a few other exceptions. That budget covers not only salaries, materials, equipping and running factories, but also shipping the cars, garage, equipment, motor homes and personnel around the world.
Inside the Oracle Red Bull Racing factory in Milton Keynes
© Thomas Butler / Red Bull Content Pool
You can guesstimate the price of a few parts: the steering wheel, which is actually a computer, comes to $58k, and let’s say $230,000 for a set of wings. The car chassis assembled from custom pieces, all 3D-printed precisely out of carbon fibre and baked hard in an autoclave. While the chassis is expensive it’s not nearly as costly as the power unit and transmission. Right now, all those parts are needed for racing. The price for each of the units allowed per season is about $14m. So even if you could buy an RB22 off the peg, which you can’t, it’s going to set you back at least $17m.
02
What about an old F1 show car? How much would that cost?
Red Bull Racing put on a show for fans in Las Vegas
© Garth Milan Red Bull Content Pool
- Budget: Upwards of $133,000
Oracle Red Bull Racing have a team of engineers dedicated to maintaining their fleet of historic F1 cars for show runs. But you can buy some old F1 display, show cars and heritage models from platforms like f1authentics.com for around $133,000. For that kind of money, you won’t be getting a car that's actually raced, but you might pick up an old model that was once on display in a sponsor’s head office.
Of course, at this price point, your F1 car won’t come with an engine or transmission. It's more or less the shell of a race car with a steering wheel but you can park it in the garage, hang it on the wall or even get your friends to push you around the yard – think of it as a very well-made soapbox.
03
One careful owner – a used F1 car
F1 legends: Jean Alesi and Max Verstappen
© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
- Budget: $1.2m and up
If you want a functioning F1 car with a bit of history, it can get really expensive. Especially if that car used to be driven by a legend of the sport. Ayrton Senna’s McLaren? A Michael Schumacher Ferrari? You won’t find anything under €5m.
The most expensive F1 car ever sold at auction was driven by not one but two greats; Juan Manuel Fangio and his team-mate, Stirling Moss – the greatest driver never to win the world championship. The Mercedes W196R Stromlinienwagen, or Streamliner, which El Maestro drove to home victory at his home Grand Prix in Buenos Aires in 1955 and Moss later raced at Monza. It was sold last year for $59m.
If you don’t have $59m burning a hole in your pocket, then Jean Alesi sold his own Ferrari F92A – a gift from the Scuderia after he’d driven it to two podiums. It had been on display in the Frenchman’s villa for 30 years before he cashed it in for a cool $3.4m.
“The car had been serviced, I did two laps of the track at Fiorano and then came back into the pits, the tyres were changed and I loaded the car into the truck, with the engine still warm”, said Jean Alesi, who is now president of Circuit Paul Ricard. “Once I got home, I unloaded it and put it on display. Since then, it hasn’t moved.”
04
The RB17 – an F1 car for the road
The RB17 hypercar would grace any car collection
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
- Budget: North of $8m
But instead of an F1 car with no engine that won’t drive or an old F1 car that you could drive but would need an army of mechanics and a garage full of spares to keep running, how about a car made by the Red Bull F1 team? Red Bull Advanced Technologies are busy crafting the RB17 hypercar as envisioned by F1’s most successful designer, Adrian Newey. With 12 Constructors' Championships and 14 Drivers' Championships Newey is only beaten by Ferrari for titles! The RB17 is being built in-house by Red Bull Advanced Technologies on the same campus as the F1 team and Red Bull Ford Powertrains in Milton Keynes and overseen by RBAT technical director Rob Gray and its designer, Adrian Newey is still involved as a consultant.
"He’s allowed to [consult on the project], and he’s still interested in what’s going on,” says Rob Gray. “But to an extent we got what we needed from him, we know what he wanted the car to look like and he’s always on the end of the phone if we need him.”
The Red Bull Racing simulator
© Kamal Kheldouni/Red Bull Contentpool
The RB17 is a two-seater carbon monocoque hypercar powered by a 1,200bhp Cosworth V8 twin turbo hybrid engine. The track car uses the same ground-effect technology that powered the most successful F1 car of all time, the RB19, and adds a fan to provide 1,700kg of downforce at 150mph. The RB17’s performance is expected to be breathtaking. And while you’re waiting for the paint to dry on the most advanced car in the world, brush up your skills with an F1 simulator. You can buy an official Oracle Red Bull Racing or VCARB simulator expertly engineered and manufactured by Memento Exclusives. It’s on sale at F1 Authentics for $123,000.
