Can you afford to be an F1 fan?

Park yourself on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon and you can watch every Formula 1 race for the price of the licence fee, which currently sets you back £145.50 (assuming you've got a colour TV).

That price rises if you want to see every race live, of course, as you'll need a Sky subscription. And if you want to all the information at your fingertips, you'll want to invest in the F1 app, too.

When you throw in the cost of kitting yourself out in the gear, treating yourself to some memorabilia and forking out for tickets and travel to a grand prix, the costs begin to skyrocket.

AUTOSPORT has conducted a thorough investigation into those costs, and here we present the major findings. Can you afford to be a Formula 1 fan?

The cost of following from home

According to Formula One Management, F1 had a reach of 425 million in 2014 - but only a fraction of that following actually attend grands prix. The rest watch it on television, tablet or smartphone.

There was uproar when news broke in the UK that the full quota of live F1 races was moving behind a paywall. Having had access to F1 coverage for free for so long, it was a shock to the system.

Fans who wanted every session live now had to pay £564 for the privilege, gaining the Sky Sports F1 channel as part of a wider bundle.

Throw in a year's subscription to AUTOSPORT, F1 Racing and the F1 app, plus a Christmas treat of the Official Season Review DVD, and you're looking at a spending of £945.66.

Of course, it's still possible to follow F1 via the BBC without paying a penny extra, especially with the wealth of information and insight available online and via social media.

But if you want the full immersive experience, it comes at a cost - as is the case if you are a football, cricket, tennis and rugby fan.

Stroll into the Autodromo Nazional Monza during a grand prix weekend and it's a sea of red, fans decked out head-to-toe in Ferrari gear with flags draped around their shoulders. This does not come cheap.

Taking Mercedes as an example, a team shirt, cap, zip-up, T-shirt, jacket, jumper and trainers will set you back £474, just over £100 more expensive than a Manchester United shirt, shorts, zip-up, boots and jacket but more than double the prices if you kit yourself out in England ODI cricket gear.

Grand Prix Legends managing director Christopher Paul said clothing sales have remained steady but memorabilia such as die-cast models, which have have tripled in price over a 20-year period, have started to struggle.

If you want all the merchandise, it'll set you back a cool £748.44.

A ticket to the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is the most expensive on the F1 calendar, with the cheapest option coming in at £390, nearly double the price of a ticket to the British Grand Prix, which is the second-most expensive.

But despite the hefty price tag for a ticket to Silverstone, that hasn't put off the fans, with a record 140,000 sell-out crowd turning up for the race earlier this month, bringing the weekend total to 335,000.

The prices above do not take into account special offers, such as the £99 race-day tickets and 44 per cent off deals Silverstone promoted in the build-up to the race.

But assuming you pay the standard price, a day out including fuel to the British GP will set you back £183 if travelling from AUTOSPORT HQ in south-west London.

While pricey, it remains the cheapest option if you want to spectate at a grand prix (based on the cheapest available Sunday ticket and driving a Ford Focus 1.6-litre petrol - 32mpg at £1.21 per litre from Teddington, Middlesex).

The British GP ticket price does not compare favourably to other sporting competitions, with only the Wimbledon men's singles final and an England v Wales World Cup rugby match more expensive in a sample of 10 events.

And when it comes to other motorsport reasonably available to UK fans, it remains the dearest option, with Le Mans - included because of its huge British attendance - considerably cheaper.

But ultimately, attendances at Silverstone in recent years suggest that the demand is there - and if fans are willing to pay the fees, you could argue the prices are set at the right level.

Sporting events in Britain are generally among the best attended in the world and as a result home fans must pay a premium to secure a seat.

WHAT'S THE FINAL COST?

Basic F1 fan: £145.50

For the cost of the licence fee, you can watch all the races part-live, part-highlights, plus have access to live radio coverage and the plethora of news online

Intermediate F1 fan: £1862.10

You have all the TV, app and magazine subscriptions, buy all the merchandise and attend the British Grand Prix

Hardcore F1 fan: £4382.10

You do all of the above, plus go to four races abroad

The price of a ticket to the British GP is expensive - certainly if you plan to take the whole family - as is the amount you have to fork out for a Sky subscription and to kit yourself out in all the gear.

But it's really no more expensive than what a football fan would have to pay; if anything it'll be cheaper as there are 38 Premier League games, let alone FA Cup, League Cup and European fixtures.

Ticket prices have risen not just in F1 but across all sporting and non-sporting events, while the growth of satellite and cable TV and the amount of sport available on TV has skyrocketed - and that's impacted on costs both for the supplier and the fan.

Clothing costs have not risen dramatically and are on a par with other sports. Many of the items that require additional cost - such as the upgrade of the F1 app - are like added extras, luxuries if you like.

Ultimately, you can follow the championship and keep abreast of developments for the price of a TV licence fee - something most households will have anyway. Football, cricket and tennis fans can't say the same.

So if anything, F1 fans are probably getting better value for money than they ever have done.

For in-depth analysis of the true cost of being a Formula 1 fan, to hear what insiders think of the findings and to see the impact of pay TV on the championship's audience, check out the July 16 issue of AUTOSPORT magazine.