F1 reports £68m profit in 2021 as revenue recovers

2022 F1 season

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Formula 1 reported annual revenue of $2.136 billion (£1.6bn) in 2021 after increasing the number of races on its calendar to 22.

The series made a profit of $92 million (£68m), having lost $386m during the pandemic-struck 2020 season.

The easing of restrictions arising from the Covid-19 pandemic last year meant five more races were held compared to the year before. Many were able to welcome spectators once more and the lucrative Paddock Club, which only operated a single event in 2020, resumed in July last year.

Therefore while F1 held seven races over the final quarter of 2021, as it did the year before, these brought in more money. They contributed $172m (£128m), an increase of 273% compared to the same period in 2020.

That helped F1’s revenues increase by 86% year-on-year. Its pay-outs to teams also rose, by 50%, to $1.068 billion (£800m). The relatively slower rate arose partly due to F1 making one-time payments to teams when they signed the Concorde Agreement in 2020.

Race promotion was F1’s largest revenue stream, accounting for 40% of its income. Media rights, including broadcasting, represented 31% of all revenue and sponsorship contributed 16%.

The 2021 season “was a remarkable year for Formula 1 in all respects,” said F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. “The racing was spectacular and the business produced outstanding results.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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7 comments on “F1 reports £68m profit in 2021 as revenue recovers”

  1. We’re so happy for you…

    1. You should be if you want there to be F1.

  2. Would be nice if these revenues were used in a way to make the sport more assessable to fans via lower ticket prices (This is why I really miss in-season testing where tickets were cheap or free which gave fans more opportunities to go watch trackside & more often) but also via making it available LIVE on FreeTV or via F1TV been made available in more places.

    Got an E-mail today saying our Sky subscription is going up in price yet again & it’s reached the point where we can no longer afford it so we phoned to cancel which means that for the first time since the early 90s when the BBC didn’t air every round live I will be forced to watch highlights this year via Channel 4 & I simply do not & never have enjoyed watching highlights so this year for me F1 will be less exciting for me because of that.

    But Sky are paying Liberty a fortune so I doubt Liberty really care that many fans, many long time/dedicate fans who want to watch live are struggling to be able to do so because of the Paywall that Liberty have actually expanded rather than reduced as I think most of the new TV deals they have done have been PayTV. Oh but at least there homeland gets it on FreeTV I guess because it seems the US is there main priority & all they care about (Along with lining there own pockets of course).

    1. Your situation is terrible – a hardcore fan having to be satisfied with the highlights. Surely Liberty isn’t paying attention. In India, our channel subscription is via the Tata Play digital TV, which is manageable in terms of costs of channels.

  3. Then it should have no problem refunding the fans who attended SPA…

    1. Definitely, assuming 100.000 people and 100-200 euro ticket each, might be a few hundreds off, there’s plenty to refund all of them, so the way they dealt with the spa situation, talking exclusively about the spectators ofc, is “money over customer happyness”.

    2. Ops, happiness*

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