Energy drinks company Red Bull made a £2.8m pre-tax profit last year from winning the Formula One championship and diversifying its racing operations, according to team boss Christian Horner.

German driver Sebastian Vettel steered the Red Bull Racing team to the 2010 championship and is one point away from this year's title after winning Sunday's Singapore grand prix.

His victory last year boosted the team's prize money to about £56m and drove an increase in sponsorship income as Pepe Jeans, electronics firm LG and forex broker FXDD joined its roster.

"The biggest increases for us, on the revenue side, were a 20% increase [in prize money] from Formula One management and sponsorship," said Horner.

He said that although costs increased to pay for winning bonuses to staff, total expenditure did not go up as much as the team expected due to F1 spending restrictions.

"Control of costs combined with the increase in external revenues meant that Red Bull Racing has become more successful at a lower cost to the group," Horner said.

Red Bull is based in the Austrian town of Fuschl am See, near Salzburg. Since the company was founded in 1984 Red Bull has become the world's most popular energy drink, selling 4bn cans last year. It made record revenues of €3.8bn (£3.3bn) in 2010, up 15.8% on the previous year.

The company does not disclose its profit but it is estimated at about €1bn after tax. Red Bull's managing director, Dietrich Mateschitz, owns 49% of the firm, with the remaining stake in the hands of Thai businessman Chaleo Yoovidhya and his son.

Red Bull's success has been driven by a marketing strategy associating the drink with extreme sports. It bought its F1 team from Ford in 2004 and poured in a lot of money. Red Bull Racing's accounts show that in 2009 it covered £96.9m of the team's £132m costs but Horner said it now provides less than half.

"The cost of Formula One to Red Bull is below 50% [of our expenditure] and is continuing to reduce." In contrast, its returns are accelerating.

According to recent research, Red Bull's advertising value equivalent from F1 – the price it would have to pay to buy a similar amount of on-screen exposure – came to an estimated £136.9m in 2009 and £219.9m in 2010, when it received almost a quarter of the total received by all the teams.

Red Bull Racing is wholly-owned by the drinks company through its UK holding company Red Bull Technology. Horner said that the company made a £2.8m pre-tax profit last year, with 75% of this down to F1 and other projects contributing the remainder.

Until the end of 2009 Red Bull Technology was responsible for designing Red Bull Racing cars and those of its Italian sister team Toro Rosso. However, a change in F1 regulations forced Toro Rosso to design its own car in-house, which led Red Bull Technology to diversify.