McLaren posts £17.360m loss despite 2025 title double

McLaren reported a £17.360 million loss for 2025 even as it won both F1 championships on track, reversing a £53.836 million profit in 2024. RacingNews365's review of 2025 filings for eight teams found Mercedes at the top of both turnover and after-tax profit.

RacingNews365 journalist Jake Nichol points to repayment of loans after a Covid-era cash investment as one reason for McLaren's loss. The team was close to going bust during that period; the loan notes had been fully repaid by September 2025.

Mercedes recorded £633.378 million in turnover and £133.143 million in after-tax profit in 2025, up from £117.675 million in 2024. That profit was 5.5 times the combined £24.07 million made by the three other teams that recorded a profit.

Alpine moved from a £14.625 million loss in 2024 to an £8.007 million profit in 2025. Williams and Aston Martin also reduced their losses in 2025 but stayed in the red: Williams reported £25.115 million, down from £49.846 million in 2024, while Aston Martin recorded £28.452 million, down from £45.793 million.

Red Bull's filings include a combined £100.482 million compensation-for-loss-of-office figure across Red Bull Racing and Red Bull Technologies. The accounts do not name the director; Nichol identifies him as Christian Horner, who was the highest-paid director before his July 2025 dismissal and formally left all Red Bull positions by mid-August 2025.

The review did not include Racing Bulls, Audi or Ferrari: Racing Bulls' Italian parent was not required to file at the same time as UK-based companies, while Audi and Ferrari's figures were embedded in wider company accounts. Cadillac's £121.923 million loss came as it prepared for its 2026 debut. It did not compete in 2025 and had no F1 prize money, making its result unlike the accounts of teams that raced that year.