Multiple F1 teams being offered several “billions” to sell each month – Formula One is on the up and in a big way. Liberty media acquired Formula One Management (FOM) for around $20 a share in 2017. The latest price on the New York stock exchange is a whopping $107.98 representing almost a 550% times return in just nine years.
F1 Teams too are now raking in the cash. McLaren who almost went bust in 2023 are now valued at over $4 billion based on a recent sale of equity early in September 2025 as the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat and the Abu Dhabi–based investment group CYVN Holdings negotiated to take an extra 30% stake in Mclaren Racing.
Both organisations already held a significant holding in the wider McLaren group which overseas the brand’s automotive and racing activities. CEO Zak Brown confirmed to Bloomberg, “We’re completely done,” signalling that Mumtalakat and CYVN now hold 100 per cent ownership of McLaren Racing. This marks the first time in the F1 team’s history that it is entirely under the control of institutional investors rather than being spread across multiple shareholder groups.
Latest Ferrari moves for Horner
Mclaren F1 days away from bankruptcy
McLaren was saved just two years ago by the sale of a 15 per cent stake in the team to New York sports investment group MSP Sports Capital for £185 million. In addition, the McLaren Group sold its Technology Centre headquarters in Woking for £170 million only to lease it back for a period of 20 years.
When Liberty media acquired F1 inn 2017, the finances were poor and a number of teams were fighting for survival. Sponsors and partner logos were a third of what they are today and the American media giant has indeed maximised F1’s Comercial development.
Monaco have been brought to heel, after years of having their own ‘special arrangement’ with Formula One. This was due to Bernie Ecclestone being lent the money by the Prince Regent of the principality to buy the F1 commercial rights and in return they were allowed to control their own on circuit advertising and control the TV broadcast whilst paying a pittance for the Grand Prix weekend.
Liberty media changed all that and now the uber wealthy city state is coughing up a market rate for its race, and the advertising revenue and TV control ended in 2023.
Remarkable turnaround McLaren now worth $4,1bn
Returning to the remarkable McLaren F1 turnaround story and their valuation of $4.1 billion, Zak Brown explained how dire the situation was in reality. In an interview with the New York Times Brown explained how during Covid revenues collapsed causing the team to make many reducnacies and selling off assets in a bid to survive.
“When I started, we were losing more than 100 million pounds a year,” said the American. “I was sheltering the team, saying, ‘Everything’s great,’ but not everything was great. We were in big financial trouble.
“Right as we were turning the corner on track, and turning the corner financially off it, we got hit. Sponsorship stopped, prize money was significantly reduced. It almost put us out of business. We were a month or two away. We were that close.”
“I always had an inner belief that we’d get the money and/or the shareholders would ultimately step up,” said Brown. “I was highly stressed, but I always felt at the end of the day we would figure it out, and we did.”
Piastri plans to “dump McLaren”
Reports F1 team values have “peaked” are nonsense
Brown now confirms the team has “been profitable for a couple of years”, with record revenue of “over £500 million” recorded in 2024.
Some industry observers have questioned whether valuations for Formula 1 teams may already have peaked, with franchise-style teams commanding record sums. Brown, however, rejects that idea. “I don’t believe that,” he said.
“If you look at sports in general, values have only ever gone up. Every time there’s a record-breaking deal in any sport, people say, ‘Oh, that was crazy.’ Then, five years later, you look back and see that the values have continued to rise.”
Brown compared Formula 1 to other major sports, suggesting that its growth trajectory is far from over. With demand for new races, a growing international fanbase and greater brand visibility, Formula 1 is well placed for continued growth.
Red Bull offered cash for Racing Bulls every month
Zak also highlighted the current competitive landscape in Formula 1 as another reason for optimism. “Last year, four teams won races and seven different drivers won multiple races. I’ve never seen this in my 30 years of following the sport. The competition on the track is fantastic,” said the McLaren CEO.
He also praised the added dimension of certain dramas around the fringes of the sport, amplified by the popular Netflix series Drive to Survive, which has introduced the sport to new audiences worldwide. “The drama off the track, captured by Netflix, is great. Demand for Grands Prix has never been higher,” he added.
Now Joe Saward, Veteran F1 writer and insider has penned in his ‘Greenbook’, the multiple F1 teams are receiving eye watering financial offers to sell. “The value of Formula 1 teams is rising rapidly and the current team owners are being bombarded with offers from investment groups, willing to part with huge sums of money to be able to get involved.
“The most extreme example thus far has been insurance magnate Mark Walter’s willingness to invest at least $1 billion to set up a new F1 team, which is billed as being Cadillac, because he sees that owning an F1 franchise is a chance to make multiples of the money invested,” says Saward.
Double driver exit at Red Bull
Multiple F1 teams offered massive sums to sell
Joe reports that the Red Bull drinks empire have been offered more than $2.3bn from an investor group to buy their second string team the Racing Bulls. “The Austrian drinks company is getting about one offer a month,” says Saward and he states a similar star of affairs is happening at Alpine and Haas F1.”
There are teams still failing to make money, despite them tripling their partners and sponsors in the past eight years. Yet these are the racing outfits like Williams who are fudging huge capital projects to improve facilities neglected for two decades.
Williams F1 reported their latest loss of $67.3 million in 2024, despite their revenues increasing by over 20% in a single season. Yet their investment seems to be paying off as they are now with in the constructors’ title and the best of the rest. The team have collected more points in 2025 than in the previous four years combined.
Reality: Teams values can grow another 4-5 times quickly
Fomrula One is the most watched annual sport in the world. Only the FIFA world cup and the summer Olympics draw more views that the pinnacle of motorsport and so when comparing US franchise sports teams’ values with F1 teams the naysayers suggesting F1 has peaked appears wide of the mark.
The Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable NFL franchise, worth around $13 billion, followed by the Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants. As of August 2025, every NFL team is valued at over $5 billion, reflecting a significant overall increase in league-wide franchise values.
Yet the regular season for the NFL teams is just seventeen games. F1 has 24 Grand Prix weekends each year and in addition there are six Sprint races which will soon be expanded.
Investing in F1 teams is not as some say at the top of the market. The values will continue to rise until they become the pinnacle of a sports investment, and McLaren’s latest deal proves that point.
Christian Horner to refuse to work with ‘useless’ driver
The speculation over where Christian Horner will turn up next in Formula One has been rife since last month he agreed his severance pay with the Austrian parent company of Red Bull Racing. It was reported he took a discounted deal which would allow him to shorten his garden leave to nine months from his suspension, meaning he would be available to work again in the sport in early April.
Whilst Alpine have been widely touted as the ‘ideal’ move for the ex-Red Bull boss, Horner like Adrian Newey is eyeing up an equity skate within the team. Yet the price of Horner’s buy in may be too expensive given the 2023 sale of a 24% equity stake to Otro Capital and Redbird Capital Partners.
The cost of the buy in for celebrities like Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney, and Michael B. JordanPatrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce together with Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce was $200m thugs valuing Alpine at $800m…. READ MORE
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