Formula 1
Numbers
What the show said, with receipts
Every figure the hosts put on the record for Formula 1, with its source and the date it was captured. The audited statements from the company's own filings are under Financials.
Freshness
0
Current (≤6 mo)
2
Recent (≤18 mo)
3
Older
Freshness is measured from each figure’s capture date, not from the episode date. An older figure is not wrong; it is a figure that has had time to move.
Reported figures
Annual viewers
2 yr827M+
the world's most popular annual sporting series; ~24 host cities
[Acquired Formula 1] · as of 2025
- Ben:It's actually the world's most popular annual sporting series with over 827 million viewers.[Acquired Formula 1, ch. Cold open]
Liberty Media acquisition
10 yr$8B EV
$4.4B equity + assumed debt; announced September 2016
[Acquired Formula 1] · as of 2016-09
- David:In September of 2016, it finally gets announced that the American media company, Liberty Media, is acquiring F1 for $4.4 billion of equity value and assuming all of the outstanding debt that the company has for a combined total enterprise value of $8 billion.[Acquired Formula 1, ch. Liberty buys F1]
F1 enterprise value (2026)
9 mo~$25B
market cap ~$22B; ~5x Liberty's 2017 equity, ~22% CAGR over nine years
[Acquired Formula 1] · as of 2026
- Ben:Today in 2026, it is a market cap of $22 billion with an enterprise value of $25 billion. Liberty has done quite well turning $4.4 billion of equity in 2017 into 5x that in nine years.[Acquired Formula 1, ch. Liberty's return]
Combined teams + series value
9 mo~$61B
~$25B the series, ~$36B the ten teams; value skews to the teams
[Acquired Formula 1] · as of 2026
Cost per car
2 yr~$20M
plus hundreds of millions to develop; 300-600 sensors per car
[Acquired Formula 1] · as of 2025