At the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Max Verstappen won his third consecutive individuals ‘ title on Sunday. The Red Bull driver won eight races in 2024, not the fugitive trophies of the previous two months, which he had won 34 of them combined. And with two tribes left in the winter, there’s also a three-way struggle for the operators ‘ subject between McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull.
However, in the world of F1, everyone is already a win in 2024.
The 10 teams are worth$ 2.31 billion on average, up 44 % from Sportico’s previous F1 team valuations in June 2023. Ferrari leads the way at$ 4.78 billion, followed by Mercedes ($ 3.94 billion ) and Red Bull Racing ($ 3.5 billion ), based on our calculations and interviews with those knowledgeable of F1 finances, including team executives, sports bankers, attorneys and investors.
Every F1 group is for 10 images for the first time, with Haas in 10th at$ 1.02 billion. F1 joins other sports properties where the “get-in” price has hit$ 1 billion over the past decade, including the NFL ( 2015 ), NBA ( 2018 ), MLB ( 2019 ) and NHL ( 2024 ). For less than$ 1 billion, you can still purchase the majority of the teams from each league in the world.
The contest network will quickly get a bit more packed. Formula 1 and General Motors signed an agreement to become the 11th staff in the series starting in 2026 on Monday. The second F1 growth since 2010 is here.
F1 has been transformed under Liberty Media, which bought the race set in early 2017 for$ 8 billion, including loan. When the red paint was no longer evident, a team’s ownership of an F1 group used to be a permit to light up the flames. Next generation, Caterham, HRT and Manor Racing all shut down their team. Lotus was purchased by Renault for a metaphorical sum of £1 in 2015.
” We’ve tried to take really a page out of, I’d say in some ways, the NFL in the United States: Compete hard on Sunday, but on Monday]it’s ] league first”, Greg Maffei, Liberty Media CEO, said at a May Autosport Business event in Monaco. ” We really want to develop the game up. Because they’ve seen increases in F1 profits and their share of the profits from their own funding, the groups have embraced that and gained from it.
Through its well-known Drive to Survive set and expanded race schedule, which also include additional make programming on race weekends, Liberty has expanded its appeal to more people than just race enthusiasts. In Singapore, there were 100 days of live entertainment beyond the race, including music by Kylie Minogue and Lenny Kravitz. In Austin, over 100, 000 followers came to view Eminem do. Race presence increased from 4.2 million in 2018 to more than 6 million this season, according to expectations.
The movements have shifted the F1 fan base younger—42 % under 35 times old—and more women, with women representing 42 % of fans. In 2025, American Express, Lenovo, LVMH, and Santander will become F1 series sponsors thanks to the sponsor revenue increase that it has generated at the commercial level of$ 632 million over the past five years.
Liberty Media has benefited from the competition series developments, as the share rose 33 % over the past year. The enterprise value of$ 22 billion is 175 % higher than the 2017 purchase price.
Perhaps better are the team-level improvements. Five years ago, the get-in cost for an F1 group was around$ 100 million. Now it is 10 days that.
The 10 teams generated a combined$ 3.8 billion in revenue last year, up 16 % versus 2022. Mercedes ($ 680 million ) led the way and made more than four times what Williams ($ 158 million ) did. Endorsements and the prize bank are the two main sources of income. British companies like Dell, Goldman Sachs, and Google have all signed with McLaren as clients. Red Bull’s partners include AT&, T, ExxonMobil and Oracle.
Perhaps the most important shift that has altered how F1 teams are valued is the introduction of price caps, which were introduced in 2021 at$ 145 million per team—driver salaries, go, advertising, constitutional and certain other expenses are excluded from the cover. Larger clubs used to spend more than twice that amount in past years.
The cover provided name hopes for team beyond Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull, who have captured 23 of the previous 26 tournaments. Additionally, it increased grid-wide success. In 2018, McLaren, which has a small guide in the current operators status, lost$ 137 million. Next year, the group turned a$ 38 million running income, with bigger benefits expected in 2024. Last month, almost 80 % of the team made money.
Buyers have started looking at F1 team on a revenue many base, similar to how venues in North American sports teams are perceived as a result of the cap’s adjustment. Formula 1 groups are valued at 6.1 times the profit on average, up from 5.1 last year and ahead of the major international sports clubs, per Sportico’s calculations. It still lags the NBA ( 11 ), NFL ( 9.3 ) and MLB ( 6.5 ), but the gap is closing.
The abundance of these global resources also benefits Formula One teams. There are only 10 groups, over 30 or more in big North American sports leagues, and even fewer of them are available to outside investment—our valuations are based on power transactions, versus limited agreement investments.
Last year, RedBird Capital Partners and Otro Capital led an investor group that paid$ 218 million ( €200 million ) for 24 % of the team. The Otro expense included stars Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Michael B. Jordan. Portuguese strong Apex Capital also joined the Alpine cover tables, in conjunction with sports celebrities Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Anthony Joshua, Alexander Zverev and Rory McIlroy.
” Formula 1 used to be more of a European sport before it became truly global over the last few years”, Antonio Cacorino, Apex Capital CEO, said in a video interview. The balance has been struck between liberally preserving Formula 1’s heritage and commercializing it while also preserving its history and potential.
In addition to HPS Investment Partners, a pioneer in Silicon Valley venture capital, Accel, a former early investor in Facebook, Aston Martin added two new institutional owners this fall. Aston Martin was valued by the LP investment at roughly$ 2 billion, which is a significant improvement from Arctos Partners ‘ previous year of investment in the brand. Adrian Newey, whose car designs have won six constructors titles at Red Bull since 2006, is expected to help the team next year. Principal owner Lawrence Stroll has made significant investment in the race team.
At least four parties expressed interest in the race series, including Michael Andretti, with one of them being Michael Andretti, who was one of the participants last year, when Liberty and the International Automobile Federation ( FIA ) thought about adding an eleventh team to the series. Ultimately, Liberty and FIA did not approve any of the bids. The$ 200 million slot fee, which was established by the most recent Concorde Agreement that governs the sport, was one of the issues. It was signed in 2020 before the recent surge in valuations. Another issue was logistics. Space for 10 teams is already tight at several tracks, such as Monaco. Finally, there were people in F1 that did not want Andretti in the sport.
After Andretti left his eponymous business in September, the governing bodies reacted and accepted a revised bid led by General Motors. Dan Towriss and Mark Walter both have support for the GM bid. When Michael left the company, Toddriss assumed control of Andretti Global. He is currently the CEO of Group 1001, the company that owns Gainbridge. Walter is co-owner of Chelsea and the CEO of financial services company Guggenheim Partners.
No financial details were disclosed, but the BBC reported the anti-dilution or “expansion” fee would be$ 450 million and more than double the price in the 2020 Concorde Agreement, which expires after the 2025 season. In addition, GM will be responsible for paying hundreds of millions of dollars in startup costs for its 2026 switch to the grid.
With Formula 1’s ongoing expansion plans in the US, we have always believed that adding a strong U.S. brand like GM/Cadillac to the grid and GM as a potential power unit supplier would add value and interest to the sport, Maffei said in a statement.
Teams must recoup an additional portion of the Prize Fund, which was$ 1.2 billion in 2023, due to expansion. F1 is broadcast in 200 countries, and the U. S. represents 10 % of the TV revenue, but a much smaller percentage of the global TV audience, which averages 85 million fans per race, including streaming.
The team payouts will receive a boost from upcoming TV negotiations. Although viewership on ESPN has dropped to around 1.1 million per race, that is double what it was in 2018. The annual salary for ESPN is roughly$ 85 million, and the new deal is anticipated to have a significant increase if it expires after the 2025 season.