Aston Martin F1 Sets Ambitious Goals

Aston Martin F1 is setting ambitious goals with two major announcements this week and I have the details in this edition of the Business of Motorsport Roundup. I also have news on unrest amongst two NASCAR teams over the new charter agreement, Dale Coyne’s take on his IndyCar charter and the latest motorsport legal developments. Let’s delve into the details.

Motorsport Industry News

Formula 1

Aston Martin F1 Sets Ambitious Goals

Lawrence Stroll has made no secret of his quest to build his Aston Martin F1 team into a major contender and this week he unveiled two things that he thinks will get him there.

The first and less splashy of the two is the latest private equity investment into the team which means the team is valued at more than UK£1.5 billion (US$2 billion). Hundreds of millions of pounds are about to be invested in the team’s holding company by HPS Investment Partners, a US-based firm which manages roughly US$115 billion in assets, and Accel, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley.

The second of course is the signing of star designer Adrian Newey as managing technical partner and shareholder. “We mean business – and so does he. Adrian shares our hunger and ambition, he believes in this project, and he will help us write the next chapter in Aston Martin Aramco’s Formula One story.”

Here are a few articles that look at the significance of the signing and why Newey elected to go to Aston Martin instead of elsewhere.

Aston Martin F1 Sets Ambitious Goals

As the Miami Grand Prix organizers have ruled out a night race for 2025, Formula 1 has been pretty upfront about the need to regionalize their 24-race calendar in order to hit their Net Zero 2030 targets. One of the obvious solutions is to pair the Miami and Montreal races together, something that Miami Grand Prix organizers are open to.

“While Miami might have very little wiggle room when it comes to rescheduling in the calendar, Miami Grand Prix president Tyler Epp would have no issues becoming a double-header alongside Canada. “It is a larger F1 question, we don’t get to dictate that,” he said.”

Of all the countries clamoring for an F1 race, South Africa is still in the conversation according to Liberty Media boss Greg Maffei. “We continue to see increased interest in from promoters who want it; South Korea, Thailand, Rwanda, South Africa all want to race.”

General Motorsport Industry News

Michael Jordan

Both 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are reported to be the only two NASCAR teams, of 15 with charters, who have not signed the new Charter agreement as of last weekend, with 23XI being the most vocal. Some have even speculated that the disagreement could lead to legal proceedings.

“23XI decided to not meet a NASCAR-imposed deadline last night to sign charter agreements for its two cars for 2025-2031. 23XI’s position, as stated in a letter to NASCAR, is that we did not have an opportunity to fairly bargain for a new charter contract,” read a statement issued by the team on Saturday.

“We notified NASCAR what issues needed to be addressed, in writing, at the deadline. We are interested in engaging in constructive discussions with NASCAR to address these issues and move forward in a way that comes to a fair resolution, while strengthening the sport we all love.”

With most of the teams signed, BlackBook Motorsport wonders if a new charter agreement will pave the way for more private equity investment in NASCAR. “But the true hurdle to private equity investment will be the terms that sit within the contract, rather than the agreement of the contract itself. If teams have agreed to a spending cap as part of the agreement, then more firms could feel emboldened to invest in the series.”

Dale Coyne Racing

Speaking of charters, IndyCar team owner Dale Coyne has a unique perspective of what he can do with his IndyCar charter. “We’ve had a lot of interest, and people have talked to us about partnering up, so the charter is going to be very good for us,” Coyne told RACER. “We’re looking to get partners in here that help either bring sponsorship or some capital, so we’re open to how that looks and what type of partnerships they could be. That’s the way business should work.”

While IndyCar is excited about the 42,000 fans that attended the Milwaukee Mile fans last weekend, RACER reports that the series is looking to launch an off-season international series, with talks reported to have been started with the Adelaide 500 in Australia. “I do think ending at the end of August, we’ve got an opportunity to have a productive period of time for IndyCar teams and our promotion of an ‘IndyCar International Series.”

MotoGP

Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei is excited about the growth prospects of MotoGP in the United States and they are reported to be interested in a second race in the country. Maffei also believes that Lewis Hamilton is interested in a team after seeing what the company did for Formula 1.

“I think MotoGP is … an unbelievably exciting product,” he said. “I don’t know if many of you have seen the racing, but to see people driving motorcycles, 220 miles an hour six inches from each other, it’s wild, and the overtaking there is incredibly impressive. It is unfortunately one that is too little known here in the United States and around the world. There’s interest in Asia and other places, but the real heart of it has been in Spain and Italy [and] to some degree France.”

“We saw what we were able to do with Formula One by telling the stories, making them humanised, making the story larger than just about the car [and] the technology. But, also about what the drivers were doing, what was going on behind the scenes, telling those stories, making sure the world understood the breadth of what was going on.”

Formula E Audience Growth 2024

While Formula E celebrates the various automotive manufacturers who have taken part in Formula E competition, they have proudly announced their record audience growth over the 2024 season.

  • 23% growth in fans worldwide, up from 304m average in S9 to 374m in S10, peaking at 386m at start of the season, materially closing the gap on F1 and Moto GP and maintaining its position as the fastest-growing motorsport on the planet
  • Formula E now boasts 118m Chinese; 27m Indonesian; and 11m Brazilian fans respectively
  • 35% growth in TV audience, an increase of 105m to 491m cumulative audience worldwide
  • US, Japan, Mexico and Spain each saw the highest ever audience of a singular programme in Formula E history
  • Monaco delivered the highest ever audience for a race – 40m
  • Six S10 races outperformed the most viewed S9 race that totalled 31m audience
  • Fans believe Formula E is more exciting than ever before and nearly twice as innovative as F1 (39% in favour of Formula E vs 21% for F1 for innovation)
  • 20% growth in Formula E’s social media following
  • 1 billion impressions across all Formula E owned social channels
  • 147% growth in video views across Formula E owned and operated platforms (social, web, app)

Read what the series has to say about these numbers here.

Quick Takes on the Business of Motorsport This Week

Aston Martin F1 Sets Ambitious Goals
Business of Motorsport

The Numbers

Franco Colapinto

Blinkfire Analytics looks at the “Formula 1 Effect” on Franco Colapinto’s social media following since he was signed to replace Logan Sergeant at Williams F1.

Motorsport Law Roundup

A look at some of the legal and regulatory issues and analysis in Motorsport this week

Aston Martin F1 Sets Ambitious Goals

With the news that both Alpine and Honda being found in breach of the FIA budget cap on “procedural grounds,” what happens now? Planet F1 has provided a primer.

“Both Alpine Racing SAS and HRC have acted at all times in good faith and are currently cooperating with the CCA to finalise the matter. Considering the nature of the breach, the complexities of the new Financial Regulations for PU Manufacturers and the challenges associated with their first year of implementation it is the CCA’s intention to propose to these two PU Manufacturers to settle their respective breaches by means of an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA).”

The results of the Spa 6 Hours World Endurance Championship round in May stand after Ferrari’s appeal of its failed protest was rejected by the FIA International Court of Appeal. The court upheld the decision of the stewards of the meeting to throw out the protest of the factory Ferrari AF Corse team against the decision to restart the race beyond the original scheduled finish time of the event and therefore the provisional classification. Autosport explains why.

RACER understands a recent decision in a United Kingdom court, where McLaren’s breach-of-contract claim against Alex Palou that seeks remuneration for advance salary payment and other losses being sought that reach beyond $20 million is being heard, has pushed both sides towards mediation. It’s believed the mediation with McLaren, which is non-binding, could take place in the coming months or early in 2025. Read all the details here.

Finally, Olivia Hicks at Formula Flash profiles 23 year old law student Faith Thiam who analyzes and summarizes F1 regulations and stewards decisions in real time over a race weekend.

“I figured that most people wouldn’t know where to find these documents or what to do with them,” she said. “There’s a lot of information. A lot of the text is redundant. Just looking at it, it looks overwhelming, and I didn’t want them to miss all the information just because of that. I thought, ‘I’ll just simplify it a little bit and edit it.’”

Check out The 23-Year-Old Law Student Making FIA Documents Trendy for more.

Motorsport Sponsorship & Partnership News

Here are the latest motorsport sponsorship deals, partnerships and related analysis that were announced this week

Business of Motorsport
Aston Martin F1 Sets Ambitious Goals

Team & Manufacturer News

Here is a roundup of the latest team news from around the world of motorsport

Business of Motorsport
Aston Martin F1 Sets Ambitious Goals
Business of Motorsport
Business of Motorsport
Mark Boudreau
Author: Mark Boudreau

Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects. As a former lawyer, he applies his legal background and research skills to assist race drivers by showcasing the resources they need to make their motorsport careers happen.