But not everyone pays the same. Deals can be struck for the right drivers. In multi-car teams, it’s not uncommon for less-talented rich drivers to fund the seats of quicker, less wealthy ones.
Russell – earmarked for the top – says he paid £800,000 for his title-winning F2 season in 2018.
But even so, those numbers are out of reach for all but a tiny proportion of society.
Budgets have increased significantly in real terms in the past 30 years.
Back in 1994, a season of British Formula 3 – which then was the leading international championship – cost about £250,000 in a top team. The equivalent in Formula 3000 – what has now become F2 – was £500,000.
Adjust those numbers for inflation, and they are the equivalent of £500,000 and £1.1m today. So why have costs effectively increased threefold?
The answer to that is rooted in how the championships have developed. Within 10 years, the cost of an F3 season had almost doubled to £500,000. That’s the equivalent of about £1.1m now.
In 2005, F3000 became GP2 and was taken over by then Renault F1 team boss Flavio Briatore and his business partner Bruno Michel.
F3 and F3000 had competition between chassis and engine companies. GP2 and GP3, and their successors F2 and F3, are one-make formulae; everyone has to use the same chassis and engine.
The idea is to ensure equality of equipment, the better to compare drivers. Michel negotiates a supply price with F2 and F3’s chassis and engine partners, and says he demands the best offer.
“I’m trying to diminish as much as possible the burden of the cost of the cars on the teams,” he says.
But the circumstances of those championships have changed significantly.
British F3 was held entirely in the UK. F3000 was European, and generally held at its own standalone events – quite often at lesser-known tracks – only occasionally joining the bill at a grand prix.
Now, both F3 and F2 are part of the F1 package, and the number of races involved in a season has increased significantly. Every extra race costs money – even if it’s on the same weekend at the same track – not least in crash damage.
Racing alongside F1 brings significant benefits in terms of exposure, but also a downside when it comes to cost.
The championships have become international, and while F2/F3 covers freight costs centrally, being on the F1 support bill means personnel have to travel to cities hosting grands prix.
As the cost of F1 has increased, it has a knock-on effect for the junior categories. Flights and hotels are more expensive. And the cost of labour has gone up, because the junior categories are competing for personnel with the likes of Formula E and the World Endurance Championship. So the packages engineers and mechanics are offered have to be more competitive.
On top of that, the cars have been made more similar to those in F1, so are more expensive to produce. And safety standards have also improved significantly, as they have in F1. But that also comes at a cost.
Karun Chandhok – now a Sky F1 commentator – says he paid 1.7m euros for his F2 season in 2008. That’s the equivalent of 2.2m euros now.
So, give or take, that means F2 has tracked inflation since then.
Although the prices of equipment and spares go up about 15% each time a new car design is introduced, F2 and F3 CEO Michel says he considers the wider economic environment when decisions are made about upgrading cars and insists: “We used to make a bigger margin at the time of GP2 on the spare parts than we do now.”
It’s karting where costs have really exploded in recent years, insiders say.