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F1 reveals huge interest from potential new investors in teams

2023 F1 season

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Formula 1 has seen a huge increase in interest from investors looking to enter the sport through new teams or existing competitors.

Greg Maffei, the president and CEO of F1 owner Liberty Media, told an investor conference yesterday the rise in interest was a result of the changes they made after taking over the series in 2017. Soon after the purchase Liberty negotiated a new Concorde Agreement with the teams and FIA, F1’s governing body.

“When we took over, we really had four goals with the new Concorde Agreement,” Maffei explained. “Create more on-track parity through putting a hard cap in. Putting in a less steeply-graded pay-out to the teams so that the bottom teams had a better chance to make more money. We put in a new series of designs which allowed more overtaking and we made the teams franchises so that the 10 had value.”

Maffei said the success of the latter change can been gauged by the fact that a little over six years since F1 last lost a team, the FIA has received interest from several prospective new entries.

“Manor was the 11th team and just before we bought into Formula 1, it went into administration in the UK and got sold for £1,” said Maffei. “The world has changed dramatically.

“Have we achieved everything on our goals? No. But we have achieved an awful lot about bringing parity and about bringing the ecosystem to be healthy and about generating interest. The number of people who call and want to invest in a team, we could fill this room and more.”

In February the FIA opened a process for potential new teams to apply to enter the sport. Under the Concorde Agreement, new entrants are required to pay a $200 million (£160m) ‘anti-dilution’ fee which is shared between the existing competitors.

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However F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali indicated that the value of teams has increased by so much that the fee may have to rise accordingly to ensure they are compensated for any loss in earnings if they have to share prize money with additional competitors.

“The evaluation has to be done together to see from the technical perspective, from the sporting perspective, for the financial stability and to make the bigger picture, if a new team will give value to the league, to the sport,” said Domenicali.

“The figure that we’re saying, the so-called anti-dilution payment, was done at $200 million just a couple of years ago – a couple means two years ago – because at that time no one would have expected that the value of this business would have risen up so much.

“Today the situation is totally different, for sure. And it’s our duty to make sure that we protect the business the best way that we can and have a bigger picture.”

While the likes of Andretti have attracted considerable attention to their efforts to enter F1, the series has seen many expressions of interest from those looking to invest in teams, said Domenicali. “Today there’s so many that would like to come.

“There are teams that are more vocal than others. Some others are much more silent, but they are really expressing their interest.

“As always in life, there is someone who has to make that evaluation. We are part of this process and we’re going to do the right thing at the appropriate time during this year.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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14 comments on “F1 reveals huge interest from potential new investors in teams”

  1. I read this as – There are lots of teams interested so we need to make sure we gouge every last cent by increasing the anti-dilution fee – is that the message?

    Also

    There are teams that are more vocal than others. Some others are much more silent, but they are really expressing their interest

    – so knowing glances, subtle Thumbs up, nudge nudge wink wink?

  2. With interest so high it’s clear that the current costs associated with buying a new entry are significantly under the value of holding it, opening up opportunities for high and virtually immediate returns to anyone able to secure a new entry under the current cost structure.

  3. Let me know when all that “interest” turns into something real.

  4. Those investors have no clue. Every other article and comment here states that there is one team dominance that destroys this sport and no one want to watch it.

    1. Sarcasm understood. But we should spare just a moment to see what the field actually looks like (below). I am happy that there is interest, especially from Porsche and Audi, as well as others. But we need teams to stick around, not just show interest. Pat yourself on the back and/or rub our faces in it when they are still here in 5yrs.

      Teams owned by billionaires/millionaires – serious about racing or not:
      2 Red Bull teams
      Haas
      Aston
      McLaren
      Williams (investment firm)

      Merc (while seemingly a stalwart at this point, they have barely been in longer than other companies that have come and gone)
      Ferrari
      Alpine (been in and out for years)
      Alfa Sauber (luckily kept in the sport by multiple sponsors over the years)

  5. So basically everyone is admitting that F1 isn’t a sport anymore. Rather an invesrment vehicle for the super wealthy?

    1. Name a professional sport that isn’t today.

    2. RandomMallard
      14th April 2023, 15:49

      I think this is true of most top level sport now to be honest. Look at the NFL, NBA, or even football (the proper kind ;-) ) clubs. Chelsea have had Abramovich and now Boehly, Liverpool are owned by FSG, and now the Sovereign Wealth Funds all want in on the act.As a Manchester United fan, I’ve had to put up with years of the Glazer family draining the club and now they seem to be botching even the sale. A sale which happens to be to either an oil-based Sovereign Wealth Fund, or an oil-made billionaire. I think it was only a matter of time, in the current climate, before F1 followed suit. And we’ve already seen elements of it, with Vijay Mallya and Force India, Stroll, and the Dorilton group. Even Wolff started out as an investor in Williams before joining and then leading Merc.

    3. Where have you been for the last 20 or more years. So just to be clear, when bernie was milking F1 even in the last 80’s it aparently was not have a problem. Now that the latest owners are doing exactly the same thing it is an issue? Right..

  6. The FIA rules do not say anything about the Concorde Agreement. It does say that the FIA gets to decide on the entries, and there is no cap on the number anywhere in the rules. How are Liberty and the teams not running a cartel in violation of antitrust laws with this scheme?

    Also: where is all this interest from actual competitors? Alfa Romeo is out. Porsche didn’t care enough to make it work. Not a single Chinese or Korean company has shown any interest at all. No American manufacturers have shown a willingness to do anything but rebadge an existing engine. And does anyone want Honda engines still?

    So far it seems they’ve created a nice financial scheme in collusion with the teams, but little more. A few teams subsisting off the guaranteed commercial rights payout while doing nothing to become competitive is not exactly a great plus for the series.

    1. The FIA have acknowledged, belatedly, that they are not in a position to grant anyone an entry to Formula 1 without the agreement of the commercial rights holder.

      https://www.racefans.net/2023/02/02/fia-invites-applications-for-up-to-two-new-teams-to-enter-f1-from-2025/

    2. Alfa was never really in, let’s be honest. Audi building an engine for Sauber will be more than Alfa ever did.

  7. HiTech Project H26

    Either the link is not allowed or the project is not to be discussed.

  8. Liberty Media is ruining F1 by replacing traditional tracks with street tracks that consist of conrete barriers and mesh fencing with few long camera angles making them uninteresting to watch.

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