Liberty Media Emphasises Unified F1 Future

Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei stresses the importance of team unity in Formula 1, highlighting the shared benefits and unprecedented growth achieved under their leadership.

Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media, assures that F1 and FOM will not seek to divide the teams to dominate Formula 1. He insists that it is now crucial for the teams to learn to work together for the benefit of the premier motorsport category.

“The previous regime spent a lot of time on competition between the teams,” Maffei recalls. “In many cases, they enjoyed gaining an advantage over each other, rather than thinking about how to develop the sport.”

“We have tried to take inspiration, in a certain way, from the NFL in the United States: the competition is intense on Sunday, but on Monday, the league prevails. We really want to develop the sport together.”

“The teams have understood and benefited from this, as they have not only seen the growth of F1 revenues and their share of the profits in their own sponsorship, but we have also seen a rise in the value of the teams.”

The American recalls that the work done by Liberty Media over the past seven years has greatly benefited the teams: “When we got involved at the end of 2016, and we concluded our first investment in January 2017, the core teams were literally worth nothing.”

“Manor had been sold for one pound the previous summer. Today, no team is worth less than a billion dollars, possibly more, and that is the price at which they raise funds. We have witnessed a tremendous growth in the value of the teams, just as we have seen growth in the value of F1.”

“But in reality, the value of the teams has probably increased even more. And that was important: we needed an investment mentality and a mindset that these were franchises that could have real value. And that is what has happened today.”

Maffei, however, expects some friction during the negotiation of the next Concorde Agreements: “There are surely issues on which we will fight. And what a surprise: they would like to make more money. I don’t blame them.”

“I suspect that some of that money they want might come from our pocket. But generally, they appreciate that we have tried to have a long-term vision, and we try to consider that we should all benefit together.”