Mercedes Mclaren Formula one?
i can understand where teams like ferrari and BMW get there money from , but where do mclaren get there money for a racing team ? - they surely dont sell enough road cars / make enough money off sponsors - to be able to run an F1 team

Mercedes own 40% of the team, so that's where 40% of the money comes from. The obscenely rich Crown Prince of Bahrain, the mega-rich businessman Mansour Ojjeh and the only very, very rich Ron Dennis own the rest between them. The sponsorship is still an important part of the yearly budget, but even if all their sponsors went bankrupt tomorrow McLaren could still do the whole season on existing funds.

Here's the breakdown:

40% DaimlerChrysler (Mercedes' parent company)

30% Mumtalakat Holding Company (Owned by the Crown Prince of Bahrain)

15% Ron Dennis (Who used to own the whole company, after buying it from Teddy Meyer in 1980)

15% TAG Group (Holdings) SA (Owned by Mansour Ojjeh, whose TAG company paid Porsche to design the engine used by McLaren from late 1983 to the end of 1987)

Mercedes are expected to increase their holding in the future by buying out both Dennis and Ojjeh.