F1 bosses have declared the sport’s teams are no longer suffering financially as their value has now ‘radically increased’.
The claim follows the release of end-of-2022 figures which shows a USD $400 million increase in revenue for the Formula 1 Group, with teams receiving $1.157b of the nearly $2.6b overall income.
It represents another healthy return on the investment made by Liberty Media when it bought the sport six years ago.
For the teams, it highlights a staggering turnaround from a position at the end of the ‘noughties’ and through the last decade when a number fell by the wayside.
Liberty Media is anticipating future battles with the teams over their individual portion of a continually growing pot.
But, according to President and CEO Greg Maffei, he has made clear it is Liberty’s intention to continue to work with the teams to ensure their share of that pot expands further as additional revenue also filters into the business.
F1 tells teams to think of ‘the long game’
Speaking in an investor call following the release of the latest figures, accessed by Speedcafe, Maffei said: “One of the things that we at Formula 1, with Liberty’s help, has been trying to do, is building a mentality – that I’ll credit the NFL for – where, if we benefit, then everybody benefits.
“Yes, the teams compete very hard on Sunday, but on Monday, we need to think about growing the entire ecosystem.
“It was critical that we have healthy teams so that we could have a healthy league, and it was critical that they had a prospect of making money – even the teams towards the back of the grid – so that we could have a prospect of also making money.
“They’ve seen radical increases in their value, and we’ve seen pretty good increases in our value, but we’re here to play the long game.
“That doesn’t mean we won’t have disagreements with the teams about how much of the pie is ours and how much of the pie is theirs.
“But trying to build the mentality that as you gain, we gain and vice versa, and that we’re playing the long game here is really part of our goal.”
Referencing negotiations over the next Concorde Agreement, which comes into effect in 2026 and in which the teams will likely be seeing a greater revenue share, Maffei added: “I think we will have a strengthened hand in that.
“Not a whip hand, but a hand saying, ‘Hey look, we’re here to grow the value and you’re going to benefit from it, and we want to see your team value grow dramatically.”
Domenicali reminds teams of past ignominy
Expressing full agreement with Maffei, F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali further highlighted the fact the teams should recognise the position they are in compared to where they were a few years ago.
“Strong teams, financially, means the strength of the entire system to exist, also with a strategy to engage more with fans and partners,” said Domenicali.
“That will have an indirect effect on the growth and strength of the business itself.
“We shouldn’t forget that not many years ago, the tears were suffering, and we as F1, were there to support them financially.
“That’s why we really believe that the more value we give to the teams, the more value will go back into the system and to the entire business.”
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