Mercedes get prize money and sponsor money. On top of that they get revenue from supplying engines to other teams. The team might spent untold hundreds of mill

Mercedes get prize money and sponsor money. On top of that they get revenue from supplying engines to other teams. The team might spent untold hundreds of millions (of money they have earned) but the parent Mercedes company spend thirty million a year. For Mercedes this is excellent value for money, equivalent to a billion or so in paid advertising time on television. Contrast this situation with teams at the back of the grid: no revenue from supplying engines, expenses for getting engines, poor sponsorship money, no income from a parent manufacturer. Oh, and little in the way of prize money. They do get some sponsorship money from their drivers though, either because they are in a Mercedes/Ferrari/Red Bull 'academy' or because the pay driver comes with sponsorship from his wealthy father or country.