Formula 1’s new business model

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s one richest sports in the world but it still needs to adapt to the times.

F1 is now trying to appeal to a younger fan base through deals with Netflix and Lego.

Plus it's trying to break that lucrative US market with races in Las Vegas and huge broadcasting deals.

We hear from the key figures at F1 and from former F1 driver David Coulthard, who witnessed the end of tobacco sponsorship and saw the likes of Red Bull coming into the paddock.

If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, our email address is [email protected]

Presented and produced by Victoria Turner

(Image: Max Verstappen races down the Las Vegas Strip during the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix on 22 Nov 2025. Image credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts.
0:07.4	Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service with me, Victoria Turner.
0:13.8	Formula One, the elite motor racing competition, is always on the hunt for new fans.
0:19.4	In the past few years, it's cracked the US sports market
0:22.5	and expanded its global reach.
0:25.2	We want to continue to grow in the US.
0:26.7	We have 52 million fans now in the US.
0:28.8	That is a very great opportunity for us to continue to grow there.
0:32.3	The championship is not just a racing series now.
0:35.6	It's a global brand.
0:40.9	Revenues have never been higher, but could the sport be pricing out some of its core fans? They can't afford the tickets. They can't afford the hotel
0:47.0	prices. And there were so many people I spoke to who were like, well, I would have loved to come,
0:52.2	but I can't afford hundreds and thousands of dollars.
0:55.7	The changing economics of F1.
0:58.5	That's in Business Daily from the BBC.
1:09.4	Formula One is one of the richest sports in the world, but even the biggest of brands need to adapt to the times.
1:17.7	For F1, younger audiences have traditionally been out of reach, but now the sport has formed global partnerships with household names like Netflix, Louis Vuitton and even Lego.
1:29.3	And there's been an F1 movie this year starring Oscar winners Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem.
1:34.7	I'm offering you an open seat in Formula One.
1:38.5	The only place you could say, if you win, you are the absolute best in the world.
1:50.4	Annual revenue rose to $3.4 billion last year, mark in its fourth year of growth in a row.
1:58.2	But for a sport that has a global calendar spanning from Brazil to China,
	...

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