🏎️ F1 The Business
Apple chases Netflix’s Formula 1 playbook
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F1 The Movie just hit theaters, riding an estimated $350+ million budget across production and marketing, and a wave of high-octane ambition.
To ensure authenticity, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton joined as producer, and the film was shot on real circuits during race weekends, with cameos from actual F1 drivers and team bosses.
Distributed by Warner Bros., the Apple Original opening weekend delivered $144 million globally (including $56 million in the US). And with a 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s poised to keep momentum. The fictional APX F1 team even racked up a record $40 million in product placement, already offsetting a good chunk of the budget.
That’s welcome news for Apple after costly flops like Argylle and Napoleon. Apple TV+ has been a loss leader—not even tracked by Nielsen in the US, with a market share trailing Peacock’s modest 1.4%. You might wonder who at Apple thought Hollywood filmmaking was a good business idea. If you like glitter, sure. If you like money? Not so much. But maybe this whole affair is more about marketing and brand halo than turning a profit.
F1 Group, on the other hand, is guaranteed to win big.
Netflix’s Drive to Survive doubled F1’s US viewership, a critical market for media rights and sponsors. Now Liberty Media, owner of the F1 Group since 2017, is leveling up with Hollywood storytelling, IMAX adrenaline, and a very real business engine beneath the glamor.
Let’s pop the hood of the F1 business.
Today at a glance:
F1 Ecosystem
How F1 Makes Money
Just Netflix And Thrill
New Rights Negotiation
F1 Ecosystem
To understand F1’s financial engine, let’s meet the players:
🛡️ FIA: Formula 1 is a sport heavily defined by its strict rulebook. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is a non-profit that ensures fair play, technical regulations, and driver safety.
🏢 Formula One Group: This entity holds the commercial rights to F1. They are the dealmakers, negotiating lucrative contracts with circuits to host races, securing broadcasting rights, and attracting major sponsors.
🏎️ F1 Teams: These ten teams design cutting-edge cars and field superstar drivers who battle it out on the track. Each includes two cars and two drivers. Some household names like Ferrari are publicly traded and included in our quarterly Earnings Visuals rotation.
✨ Sponsors: The brand ambassadors, bringing big bucks to F1 while promoting their products to a global audience.
📺 Broadcasters: Broadcasters pay a premium for the rights to air races, making F1 accessible to millions of fans worldwide. They include networks like Sky Sports, ESPN, and Canal+.
🏙️ Race Promoters: The local heroes who transform tracks into vibrant hubs and create unforgettable fan experiences. From the historic streets of Monaco to the futuristic Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi, each of the 24 races showcases local culture and helps grow F1’s global fan base.
How F1 Makes Money
Here’s a closer look at Formula One Group’s financial engine in FY24:
Revenue streams
F1 brought in $3.4 billion in revenue in 2024 across four main streams:
💰 Race Promotion (29% of revenue): Circuits around the world pay hefty fees for the privilege of hosting a Grand Prix. These multi-year contracts often escalate over time, signed by a mix of track owners, auto clubs, private organizers, and governments eager to showcase their cities. In 2024, this segment grew 6% with 24 races, flat compared to 2023.
📺 Media Rights (33% of revenue): F1’s largest revenue stream comes from selling broadcasting rights. Traditional networks, regional providers, and F1’s own streaming platform (F1 TV) all deliver the action. While Netflix helped ignite global fandom, it’s not (yet) a live rights holder. US rights are up for renewal soon, more on this in a minute.
🤝 Sponsorship (19% of revenue): Big brands love the glamor and reach of F1. From race title sponsors to global partners, sponsorships include trackside signage, team partnerships, and more. As fan engagement grows, so does sponsor interest.
🎟️ Other (19% of revenue): This diverse stream includes:
Ticket sales for the Las Vegas Grand Prix (launched in 2023), where F1 Group acts as the promoter. Revenue dipped slightly as the novelty wore off in year two.
Paddock Club VIP hospitality packages.
Shipping logistics for teams and equipment.
Other licensing deals and TV production activities.
F1’s business is powered by multi-year contracts, giving it predictability and leverage across most revenue lines.
What about costs?
Cost of revenue and operating expenses include:
Team Payments: $1.3 billion, about 37% of revenue distributed to teams as prize money, structured around past results, bonuses, and team agreements.
Other costs (FIA fees, hospitality, commissions): $1.1 billion.
Selling, general, and administrative: $0.3 billion.
Depreciation and amortization: $0.3 billion.
Operating margin was 14% (+2pp Y/Y).
Growth of the Primary segment revenue slowed in 2024, just +8% Y/Y, compared to +21% Y/Y in 2023, partially due to no increase in race count and viewer fatigue from Verstappen’s 2023 dominance. But with lean costs and barely any marketing spend, F1 remains a cash machine.
Just Netflix and Thrill
F1 was seen as an elite, European-centric sport with a loyal (but aging) fanbase. Liberty Media had a challenge on its hands.
Then came Netflix and its Drive to Survive docuseries, which redefined how global sports are marketed.
Season by season, fan by fan
Now in its seventh season, Drive to Survive remains a cultural force. The show has leaned into the human drama behind Verstappen’s dominance, spotlighting rising stars like Oscar Piastri and exposing team tension at Mercedes and Ferrari. Even as race outcomes became predictable, the off-track storytelling kept fans emotionally invested.
Netflix helped transform F1’s drivers and team principals into global personalities. Drivers like Daniel Ricciardo, Lando Norris—and even team principals like Toto Wolff and Christian Horner—became breakout stars.
Numbers that move the needle
According to Nielsen Sports, F1's global fanbase hit 827 million in 2024—up 12% Y/Y, thanks in part to the return of the Chinese Grand Prix.
A YouGov Sports whitepaper found that 1 in 4 fans cite Drive to Survive as a “major reason” they follow the sport.
The average F1 race drew 85 million viewers in 2024 across broadcast and digital platforms.
Even better for Liberty Media: these fans aren’t passive viewers. They’re younger, more diverse, and far more active online—exactly the kind of audience sponsors crave.
Could F1: The Movie deliver the same breakout buzz as Drive to Survive?
New Rights Negotiation
Since Liberty Media took over in 2017, Formula 1 has shifted gears, evolving from a Eurocentric sport into a global entertainment engine.
Now, US broadcast rights are up for grabs, and the battle could reshape F1’s American future. ESPN’s current deal is expiring at the end of the 2025 season. Liberty wants a major raise. But ESPN is reportedly unwilling to go beyond $85 million a year.
A lot is riding on it—literally. After a post-Drive to Survive boom, US viewership plateaued, weighed down by Verstappen’s 19-win domination in 2023, killing the suspense. But 2025 is already looking racier: average US viewership has rebounded to a record 1.3 million per race so far, hinting that unpredictability is back, and so is fan engagement.
To be sure, interest in following races live is not growing as fast as the fan base, indicating that the new younger fans who discovered F1 via Netflix may be less inclined to watch races live.
Enter the streaming giants. Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and NBC (Peacock) are all rumored contenders for the next rights package. Each wants a piece of the F1 engine—whether for live viewership, international expansion, or brand prestige.
And this is where Apple’s $350+ million bet on F1 The Movie might shift the odds.
The company has already dabbled in MLB (baseball) and MLS (soccer), and it’s made no secret of its interest in live sports. A blockbuster F1 film, paired with the global rights to the real thing? That would be a podium finish.
That’s it for today!
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Disclosure: I am long AAPL, AMZN, NFLX, and LYV in App Economy Portfolio. I share my ratings (BUY, SELL, or HOLD) with App Economy Portfolio members.
Author's Note (Bertrand here 👋🏼): The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are solely my own and should not be considered financial advice or any other organization's views.
Great article