- Liberty Media protecting value of existing teams by rejecting Andretti, says Brown
- Rotating races would allow access to new markets, with Asia “an important territory”
McLaren Racing chief executive Zak Brown has claimed every Formula One team is worth “well north” of UK£1 billion (US$1.3 billion).
Speaking at a Bloomberg event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Brown noted the impact that Liberty Media has had on the sport since its US$8 billion takeover in 2016.
“Half the grid is profitable,” said Brown. “They weren’t five years ago.”
He added: “What Liberty is wanting to do is protect the value of the ten teams that exist. We’re now in a position where pre-Liberty you had teams falling away.
“Now [in the] post-Liberty era, there are teams lining up that want to get into the sport. So I think Liberty is just seeing how, when and if they want teams to enter.”
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This approach has seen Andretti Global rejected from entering Formula One as Liberty Media seeks to maximise value for the existing teams.
Aston Martin recently sold a minority stake to Arctos Partners which reportedly valued the team at UK£1 billion, while a study by Forbes last year estimated that the average team value had increased 276 per cent since 2019 to US$1.88 billion.
When considering how Formula One might expand moving forward, Brown suggested the series could look at rotating Grands Prix on the calendar to allow access to new markets without growing the season beyond the current 24 races
“If we needed to dial up a few more races, I’d say Asia is an important territory,” said Brown. “If we had more markets to go into I’d say a race in Asia, India, South Africa. That would really give us a global footprint.”
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