Brawn’s formula for F1’s highest ever turnover

Victory in last year's Formula One world championship powered the Brawn GP team to a turnover of £235 million, the highest recorded by any outfit in the sport.

Brawn's accounts for the year ending December 31, 2009 showed revenues rose 37.6% fuelled by increased prize money and sponsorship, as well as a £93 million payment from the team's former owner Honda.

In March last year team boss Ross Brawn led a management buyout from Honda which pulled out of F1 to cut costs.

After failed attempts to sell the team, Honda handed control to its management and gave them the money which it would otherwise have had to spend on closing it down.

The gamble paid off for Brawn who had spent most of 2008 developing last year's car.

It won eight races and clinched the championship with Britain's Jenson Button at the wheel.

This led to the team attracting a slew of sponsors including Canon, Ray-Ban and Gieves & Hawkes, while total costs fell 18.8% to £135.1 million after 250 staff redundancies.

Its pre-tax profit accelerated from £1.3 million in 2008 to £98.7 million the next year and the management shared a £20 million dividend.

The bulk of the balance was banked and the team had cash reserves of £60.5 million at the end of 2009.

Its strong financial position and on-track success attracted Mercedes and Abu Dhabi wealth fund Aabar to buy a 75.1% stake. The remaining 24.9% is split between the team's management.