The Anatomy of Formula One Success

In today's episode, we introduce another unique format for Business Breakdowns. We will be diving into the iconic global motorsport brand - Formula One. To break down F1, I will be joined by CEO Stefano Domenicali and investor, Arman Gokgol-Kline. 

To start the conversation, Arman and I frame the business of Formula One with a high-level overview of how the league operates and generates revenue. Then Arman joins me to speak to Stefano who was appointed CEO of F1 in late 2020, after the league and teams agreed to their latest Concorde Agreement which governs stakeholders across the ecosystem. We touch on Stefano’s own story growing up with Formula One, how the team, driver, and ownership worlds align, and what gets him most excited for the brand moving forward. Arman and I then wrap up by diving into the white space opportunities for F1 and what key lessons for builders and investors.

The origin story of Bernie Ecclestone founding and operating F1 is fascinating – and I admire how Liberty has been able to push the brand further into the spotlight. You can see a clear focus on building an aligned ecosystem across the fans, teams, and league officials. This was an incredibly fun episode where you hear from both an inside and outside view. I hope you enjoy this breakdown of F1.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Part 1

[00:03:00] - [First question] - The overall size of the F1 fanbase

[00:05:22] - Three key buckets of revenue and their percentage split

[00:07:21] - Business economics of the race tracks and promoter incentives

[00:11:22] - Thoughts on expanding the annual race and track count

[00:13:49] - Business economics of the race broadcasts

[00:18:59] - Business economics of sponsorships and partners

Part 2 

[00:21:21] - Where Stefano found his early passion for motorsport

[00:23:32] - What it was like to run an F1 team

[00:27:14] - Why they decided to open up social media to drivers and partnering with Netflix

[00:33:07] - The Concorde Agreements and what made 2021’s agreement unique

[00:35:24] - How the budget is so crucial to a driver and their engineering team’s success

[00:38:13] - Key factors define a great winning engineering team

[00:42:26] - What makes a driver great and stand out over time

[00:46:14] - Thoughts on the motorsport industry in a world aiming for environmental sustainability

[00:48:48] - What will be most different about F1 five years from now

[00:52:09] - Stefano’s most memorable moment across his entire career

Part 3

[00:53:10] - Biggest whitespaces in F1 that present great monetization opportunities

[00:58:49] - Unique team dynamics and how teams are built and developed

[01:02:39] - The story of Lawrence Stroll and Aston Martin 

[01:04:35] - Why BMW dropped out of F1 and why a manufacturer would choose to quit

[01:07:34] - Reasons why Porsche has never stepped into the motorsport space

[01:09:40] - Major costs centers of the business today

[01:11:25] - The history of Bernie Ecclestone And F1 racing

[01:14:08] - Lessons one could pull from F1 and unlocking value 

[01:15:30] - Areas of content production that F1 has done well

[01:17:10] - Additional ways F1 could monetize the relationships between teams and fans

[01:21:25] - Lessons that business builders can take away from F1’s story

[01:23:00] - Lessons that investors can take away from F1’s story

[01:24:25] - Where to learn more; Drive to Survive; Concorde Commercial Agreement