Why F1's top bosses think 'bigger future'

Greg Maffei: “Formula 1 has never been healthier by all accounts. Fan interest is incredibly high. We have great racing on track and we’ve helped the teams. When we came in Manor, the 11th team, had just to be sold in bankruptcy for a pound (just over a euro). And today, I don’t think you can buy a team for less than 500 million dollars, maybe 700 million (more than 820 million euros). You can try, but it’s going to be tough. It’s an incredible increase in value. And in part, that’s because of the things that have been put in place to try to create more competition on the track, which also bolsters the health of those teams. “You need to have a healthy team ecosystem to make it work. And I think all of those things are happening, and you’re also seeing increased interest from fans. On TV, and in person, we’ve never had events before.” larger. So It’s very good.”

Stefano, the key in terms of increasing the value of the teams was the cost cap, something that many thought we would never see in F1.

Stefano Domenicali: “Absolutely. I think that the vision that Greg had, along with Chase (Carey), to whom we must give great credit, was the need to not continue what had happened before. And that discontinuity means having the professionalism with a different way of doing sporting business. It was about the vision of making the Formula 1 business financially sustainable. We can say that the revenue could be higher, but the cost is unavoidable. So the only way to make sure that the margin is higher is to control what is spent. That was a very big goal that has completely changed the vision of the sport and gives credibility to the system. A sustainable business means that teams can invest and grow. All the elements are now secure and financially strong. We can think of a bigger future. Thinking of a bigger future means that we have to respect what the Formula has been 1, but entering new markets that will potentially allow us to grow; not just financially, but in terms of awareness and passion for the sport. We are talking about a sport that needs to have the element of emotion; we want to focus the main attention on the track. So it’s about having great races, making sure that the drivers, who are our jewels, have the opportunity to fight each other, opening up the possibility through social networks to have the opportunity to see them. It is important to get in touch with the new generation of fans. We have to create different narratives for different types of fans.”

I don’t think there has ever been an influx of new sponsor money into the sport like this since tobacco advertising was banned in the mid-2000s. Almost every F1 team you talk to is having to turn down sponsors (for having too many already).

GM: “I think they do, there’s not a lot of room on the car to put another logo or sticker. The increased interest from people who really understand technology has been a very important part and the increased interest among the tech communities of Silicon Valley. That has opened up a range, but there are also fans who are more casual, who appreciate perhaps the stories of the drivers, the personalities. Then there is the growing youth of our fans: according to a survey (the Global Survey of F1 Fans 2021 Motorsport Network), we’ve dropped the median age four years. So that’s opened up a lot of consumer products and a lot of other types of brands that find it appealing. So we’ve been very lucky to have all kinds of interest from sponsors.

SD: “Think about the depth of cryptocurrencies. We have 10 different brands of them. And I can say that the software business is exactly the same. It’s very healthy. It means that for the first time, there is no need to have any type of loans , which used to be a regular thing in the past, to make sure the teams stayed alive. So now they’re very strong. And that’s a great reward for your investment in us. And that’s why we think you have to respect the community of teams. Today it is not a problem of having more teams, because we have a list, some are louder than others, many people and investors would like to be in Formula 1. But we have to protect it. So this is really another sign that we have a very healthy system.”

So you already have the correct number of teams, ten is the ideal number?

SD: “I think so. Anyone who wants to get in has to be really important.”

GM: “On the young audience, we give Netflix credit for opening it up to a lot of people. But what’s fascinating is how many people have come in different ways. Social media, a huge part. Games, you can go in and play.” with Lando Norris and racing on the same track as him. That’s very attractive to a lot of young fans. That didn’t exist seven years ago, it wasn’t planned. And so we opened up the sport, making it more attractive. Yes, F1 has elements of exclusivity Of course. But there are elements that all fans can touch.”

Another of his goals was to grow the sport in the United States. This year we have seen that Miami has been added. Next year we will have a third race in the country, in Las Vegas. What other areas in the future do you want to promote?

SD: “There are other areas of the world that want to have Formula 1. And I think one area that we want to develop is the African area, because this is a world championship. So I think we’re working very hard to make sure it’s a area where we are going to have a grand prix very soon. And then there is the interest from the Middle East. And we don’t want to lose interest, of course, from Europe, because we were born here. And we will stay here because I hear a lot of voices, You know, they’re not true. The good thing about the current situation is that we have a lot of options.”

One of the key strategies for the future is the change that we are going to have in 2026, to 100% sustainable fuels. In effect, we are going to showcase this technology at the biggest sporting event in the world. And that has to be transformative.

SD: “I would say yes. And I think we want to be realistic. We want things to happen immediately. And yes, we think it is an option that will allow manufacturers to be credible in a dimension that will also be profitable for them. With the due respect, to think that electrification will reach the whole world in two years, we know that it is not possible. Therefore, also, from a technical point of view, a strategic choice to be sustainable with hybrid motors, we believe that it is the correct one And that’s why we have a lot of interest from other manufacturers to join us.”

GM: “The sport obviously has a lot of attributes that are positive, we think we can be beneficial by going to places like Africa and broadening the audience, and increasing the interest of motorsport around the world. It’s not necessarily the place where we’re going to win the most. money. But if you invest in the long term, we think it’s the right opportunity. Thinking about sustainability. The case of the United States, I know it quite well, there are 250 million cars in the United States, of which 200 million are in working order. an average of about 11 years or more, people buy used cars. At best, we have between 15 and 17 million new cars a year. If you do the math, even if a third or a half are electric It’s going to be a long time before anything is done to clean up the existing 200 million car base. ones of existing cars. I’m not saying we’re going to cure all that. But if we can contribute to that knowledge, if we can help with our work on sustainable fuels, I think that’s a good thing.”