Formula One generated more than $4 billion (£2.17bn) in revenues in 2005, with more than $2.5 billion (£1.4bn) of this flowing to the teams.

The figures are revealed in a new report, The Business of Formula One, written by Christian Sylt and Caroline Reid and published by SportBusiness.

Over a quarter of the total revenues is made up by spending from the team owners, who are believed to have plunged more than $1.3 billion (£708m) into their teams last year. This came mainly from the car manufacturers and dwarfed the amount that the teams made in sponsorship, at around $880 million (£480m), the second largest revenue stream.

TV and video game rights were the next biggest source of revenue for the sport, bringing in an estimated $395 million (£215m), while ticket sales and race sanction fees almost balanced each other out at $285 million (£155m) and $280 million (£152m) respectively.

The indication is that despite its recent problems, such as the threatened breakaway series, Ferrari's five-year dominance and the Indianapolis fiasco, Formula One is still in great health.

The Business of Formula One report contains interviews with almost 100 of F1's top executives, including seven team principals, five team sponsorship managers and over 20 top sponsors. It also reveals for first time data such as the financial value of winning the world championship, the geographical spread of races since the first Grand Prix in 1950 and the total amount ever invested by the car manufacturers involved in F1.

Bernie Ecclestone has provided a foreword for the report and says: "F1 is an important and unique business and this report gets right to the heart of it. It shows you how to place the most effective investments and maximise returns. As the sport is moving forward at such a rapid rate this is invaluable. Well worth reading to stay in pole position."

For further information about the report: sportbusiness.com