Formula 1 motorsport director Ross Brawn says the way the sport distributes its prize money makes it impossible for more than 10 teams to exist.

At present revenues are paid based on whether teams have finished in the top 10 constructors’ championship positions in prior seasons. Some teams are paid further bonuses on top of that.

Under the current prize money structure the number of F1 teams has fallen from 12 in 2012 to just 10 since 2017.

Brawn is in discussions with teams over how the prize money structure will change when their current commercial agreements with F1 expire at the end of this year.

“What I don’t think we want is a revenue model where only 10 teams get paid because that’s certain death for the 11th team,” said Brawn in an exclusive interview for RaceFans. “We’ve seen that, history has shown that happens every time.

“So we have to find a solution to that. What that solution is we’re in discussion at the moment.”

The new budget cap, which will be introduced for the 2021 F1 season, will constrain what teams can spend on running their F1 operations. But new teams won’t be able to get around it to spend huge sums before entering, said Brawn.

“The way the budget cap works is the period prior to competing you still have a control on what you can spend. So whereas at the moment the $175 million is spent on operations and so on and so forth, that can be spent on different things entering Formula 1.

“So there still needs to be a substantial investment to get into Formula 1. But the year or two leading up to starting, once you’ve made your entry, then you are controlling the costs as well. So there is a ceiling on investment that somebody can make.

“It is a serious investment, there’s no doubt. But if we can make the returns sensible I think it’s more justifiable.”

How much money did F1 teams earn in the past two seasons?

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2020 F1 season