Formula 1’s calendar complications are just some of what is covered in this week’s Business of Motorsport Roundup. I also have news of a possible FIA/ACO split, the latest sponsorship deals and more.
Overview
Motorsport Industry News
Formula 1 Announces 2027 Schedule While Still Trying to Manage the Remainder of 2026
The current situation in the Middle East is continuing to cause headaches for those working on their 2027 calendars and Formula 1 is the series arguably most affected by the conflict. While the FIA has canceled the Saudi round of the World Rally Championship, F1 clings to the hope that they can continue to race in the region both in 2026 and 2027.
First off, the situation for F1’s final leg of their 2026 calendar is fluid but there are glimpses that the season will end in Europe instead of Abu Dhabi. The first hint is that the F2 championship, which was to finish in Saudi Arabia has now announced a “super-sized weekend” in Baku. Sector has a great rundown on who is saying what regarding the end of the season races but the rumor is that Imola is scheduled to cap off the season with the Abu Dhabi and Qatar grands prix being canceled.
For the 2027 season, all the Middle Easter races are on the schedule but GP Blog reports that Zandvoort and Imola are on standby. Autosport and Business of Speed have a great rundown on the 20227 schedule and the economics of it. One positive of the 2027 schedule? There are no sportscar clashes.
Chinese Manufacturer Has to Make ‘Serious Offer’ to Join F1
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is open to Formula 1 adding a 12th team to the grid, but says any candidate will have to join on the championship’s terms. “The FIA can open for a 12th team. But, ‘Do we need a team, Mr President?’ No, we don’t need a team, we need the team,” Ben Sulayem said. Both The Race and Sector look at the possibilities.
Report: Formula 1 Reaches 827M Global Fans Under Liberty Media But Faces New Loyalty Challenges
Sports owner Liberty Media grew F1’s fanbase by 63% to 827M by focusing heavily on social media and driver personalities. Online followers skyrocketed to 114.5M, dropping the average fan age as modern audiences prioritize charismatic drivers over traditional racing teams. To maintain this massive growth, brands and teams must keep younger fans engaged between races even if the actual championship gets boring.
Insider Reveals How Red Bull’s Billion-Dollar Porsche Deal Collapsed
It is almost exactly four years since one of the most spectacular joint ventures Formula 1 might ever have seen fell apart in late summer 2022. Red Bull and Porsche had agreed to join forces in grand prix racing – only for Red Bull to pull out at the very last moment after a marathon of negotiations. Motorsport.com reveals how Red Bull’s billion-dollar Porsche deal collapsed.
Spanish GP Organizers Promise Madring Track Changes Following F1 Criticism
Organizers of Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid are ready to make tweaks to the Madring circuit to boost overtaking for 2027, and have already received recommendations from the FIA.
Task Force Formed To Revive Formula 1 In India By 2028
The Indian Sports Ministry has formed a task force led by NITI Ayog’s Yugal Kishore Joshi and to work on revival and development of Formula 1 and motorsports in India. The objective of the task force is to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the motorsports ecosystem in India and review the challenges, with taxation chief among them.The target for the task force is to find feasibility of hosting a Formula 1 race in India in 2028.
NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell Talks Reshaping Business
Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR CEO, says the business has good momentum but he’s still focused on attracting younger viewers and getting new fans to the track. He also talks about competition among the drivers and how that helps the sport. He speaks with Bloomberg’s Bailey Lipshultz and Randall Williams in the video above.
Report: FIA, ACO at Odds Over WEC Contract Extension
The FIA and ACO could go their separate ways in its current partnership with the FIA World Endurance Championship, according to a report from a leading German automotive and motorsport publication, which would have massive repercussions in sports car racing worldwide.
Auto Motor und Sport Editor-in-Chief Marcus Schurig writes: “This would turn the world order in endurance racing upside down, raising numerous questions: Can an endurance world championship function without Le Mans?
The FIA and WEC have since responded to this report indicating that their agreement with the ACO extends to the end of 2027 and that they are currently negotiating an extension. The WEC has called these discussions “constructive.”
“The FIA World Endurance Championship has enjoyed sustained growth since the introduction of the Hypercar and LMGT3 regulations, competing this season across seven countries,” the FIA said in a statement issued to Autosport. “This achievement is the result of extensive collaboration between drivers, teams, manufacturers, the FIA, the ACO, the promoter LMEM and the millions of fans who follow the championship. “The FIA and ACO are continuing discussions regarding an extension of the promoter agreement. The current agreement with ACO remains in place until the end of 2027.”
FIA President Targeting GT1 Revival With Halo Brands
A story strand circulating over the past couple of weeks was that a potential programme is looming to resurrect GT1, featuring some of the halo brands and models from the current marketplace for road-going and/or track-focused cars of stratospheric performance levels. Dailysportscar has the details here.
Fired IHRA President Makes Serious Accusations as Iconic NASCAR Track Put on Sale For $10M
Rockingham Speedway’s return to the NASCAR calendar in 2025 and 2026 was supposed to mark a new chapter for the historic venue. Instead, The Rock is now for sale for $10 million, while controversy surrounding IHRA ownership and former president Kenny Nowling has added uncertainty to its future. The track’s ownership says the IHRA turmoil is separate from Rockingham’s operations, and that the speedway intends to continue developing even as a sale is considered. With Track Enterprises already making an unsuccessful offer and NASCAR absent from the 2027 schedule, the story highlights the difficult business realities behind preserving major motorsport venues.
Quick Takes on the Business of Motorsport This Week
- McLaren reveals ‘luxury boutique’ showroom redesign, new corporate identity, 810-hp hybrid coupe (Automotive News)
- McLaren Automotive to invest £500m to anchor its future in the UK (NewsPress)
- NASCAR CEO, 23XI Racing on Motorsport Growth (Bloomberg)
- Formula 1’s Private Equity Era (Paddock Project)
- Fans, franchises and the big four: how private capital is targeting elite sport (Financial Times)
- Faster cars, deeper fan engagement and dystopian fears: How AI is transforming motorsport on and off the track (BlackBook Motorsport)
- BARC partners with FanDrive to enhance motorsport fan experience (BARC)
- Race of Champions set for NZ debut with F1, Supercars stars (SpeedCafe)
- FIA Motorsport Funding Programs (FIA)
- The Playbook Behind Madrid’s Hospitality (Business of Speed)
- How the Singer Drivers Club Is Reimagining the Longest Continuously Running Racetrack in the U.S. (Robb Report)
- Technologies To See At 2026 PMW Expo (Dailysportscar)
- The Rise of Racing Country Clubs (Esses)
- PRI Launches NextGen Connect to Develop the Next Generation of Motorsports Professionals (PRI)
- Max vs 100: Formula 1’s First Spin-Off (and It Won’t Be the Last) (RTR Sports Marketing)
- Verstappen beats 100 karters (from the back) in Red Bull event (The Race)
- Could A2RL Give European Automakers An Autonomous Driving Advantage? (Forbes)
Highlights from the Sustainable Motorsport Roundup
Lola’s Sustainable Motorsport Strategy: What’s Next?
Lola’s sustainable motorsport strategy is impressive at such an early stage and in this week’s Sustainable Motorsport Roundup you will find out what is next. I also have details on a potential Toronto EPrix and more.
The Numbers This Week
FOX Continues Impressive Increases With IndyCar Viewership In 2026
IndyCar on FOX continues to deliver increased viewership for the second year in a row. Ratings have increased a combined 80 percent since the network began its relationship with the series that includes the Indianapolis 500 in 2025.
Motorsport Law Roundup
What Rugby, Football and Tennis Can Teach Formula One About Sporting Decisions
What can Formula One learn from rugby, football and tennis about making sporting decisions? Robert Reid uses recent F1 cases—including Pierre Gasly’s delayed resolution after the Monaco Grand Prix—to question whether motorsport’s complex stewarding and appeals process can deliver decisions quickly enough for the sporting result to retain its meaning.
Drawing on VAR, rugby’s TMO and tennis’s Hawk-Eye, he explores where technology can speed up objective decisions, where human judgment remains essential, and how F1 could improve consistency without sacrificing independence or the right of appeal. Read his full post here.
Ford Teams Sent Supercars Legal Letters Over Parity Change
Supercars’ decision to clip the Chevrolet Camaro’s wings at The Bend came after it received a flurry of contract dispute letters from Ford teams, Speedcafe can reveal. “We laid down our cases to why we thought the changes were outside of what the rules permitted to be done, and to Supercars’ credit, they listened and understood our point of view,” Grove said of the meeting.
Joe Gibbs Racing Accuses Ex-Director Of Defying Injunction
Joe Gibbs Racing’s former competition director has continued to do work for another NASCAR team that mimics his old job duties in violation of court orders restricting his employment responsibilities, the team has alleged in a bid to have him and his new employer held in civil contempt.
Farah Irdina: How A Law Graduate Juggles Her Studies and Motorsports Career
A former equestrian, Farah Irdina now brings her competitive edge to professional motorsports. It’s Race Week explains how law graduate Irdina juggles her studies and motorsport career.
How Neutral is Autonomy of Sport?
Sporting autonomy traditionally has been understood primarily as the protection of sport from political interference. Yet the history of “neutral” participation shows how sports bodies have repeatedly had to define the “scope of neutrality”, the relationship between athletes, states and international sport. The Independent Olympic Participants (IOP) at Barcelona 1992, the later Authorised Neutral Athlete (ANA) regime in athletics, and today’s Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) framework are legally distinct categories, created in very different contexts. What unites them is the attempt by sports governing bodies to preserve individual participation while distancing that participation from the athlete’s State; but how successful can that distancing ever be in reality?
International Sports Lawyer Anna Smirnova asks how neutral is autonomy of sport?
When is a Sports Body a “Court or Tribunal” Under EU Law? Review of CJEU ruling – Part 2
Part 1 (see here) of this article examined the first issue decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in FIGC and CONI: whether Articles 45 and 56 TFEU permit a national sports association to impose disciplinary sanctions that restrict a director’s professional activities.
The CJEU held that it does, provided the sanctions pursue a legitimate objective in the public interest and satisfy the principle of proportionality, with the detailed proportionality assessment left to the national court.
This article on LawnSport is Part 2 and turns to the Court’s answer on effective judicial protection: how intensive the review of such sanctions must be, what remedies a national court must be able to grant, and whether a sports body can itself qualify as a “court or tribunal” for the purposes of EU law. You can read it here.
Motorsport Sponsorship, Partnership News and Analysis
- Liquid I.V.’s McLaren Racing Partnership Cements Its Foothold in Formula 1 (Chief Marketer)
- How Charles Leclerc and Chivas Regal Crafted a Partnership Built on Mastery and Personal Passions (Sunday’s Sponsors)
- Nike’s Formula 1 Talks, Alexandre Arnault’s Arrival, and the Risk of Mistaking Access for a Turnaround (Business of Speed)
- The Behavioral Hierarchy Theory in Sports Sponsorships: Learn, Feel, Do (RTR Sports Marketing)
- Canada Goose Enters Motorsport Through Partnership with ARCH Motorcycle Racing (Yahoo Finance)
- The Rise of the Everyday Motorsport Sponsor (Open Track Consultants)
- McLaren Racing Announces SharkNinja as Official Partner (McLaren Racing)
- Haas Boss Addresses BWT F1 Sponsorship Rumors: “We’re Not Going to Have Pink Cars” (Yahoo Sports)
- Komatsu and Atlassian Williams F1 Team renew award-winning global partnership with expanded technical collaboration (ESA)
- People not products: Inside the renewed Williams and Komatsu F1 deal (Sector)
- Toyota’s GR Supra Returns as Official Pace Car for the 2026 NASA Championships (Toyota)
- Lando Norris praised for firm response to Coca-Cola request after Spanish GP: “Highlight of the Madring” (Motorsport.com)
- Why Beauty Brands Are Investing in Motorsport Sponsorship (Mlle’s Substack)
- F1 set to agree new apparel deal with sporting giant Nike (GP Blog)
- FinanceBuzz joins LN4 Fusion for 2027 and 2028 (LN4 Fusion)
- Metro Supply Chain joins LN4 Fusion as Official Partner (LN4 Fusion)
- Could an impending Formula 1 deal be the turning point Nike needs? (Sector)
- Is F1 the right place for your brand? (RUSH)
- Sponsor Debrief: Italian Grand Prix (Sunday’s Sponsors)
- Haas appoints Brandand to drive global F1 licensing (Sector)
- FedEx Freight to become NASCAR Truck Series’ title sponsor from 2027 (RACER)
- Should brands swerve, or steer as F1’s U.S. viewership adapts to new coverage? (Digiday)
The Business of Running a Race Team
Saving McLaren F1: How Zak Brown Brought in MSP Sports Capital
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, McLaren F1 faced a £65 million loss and weighed the very real possibility of shutting down its Formula 1 operations.
MSP Sports Capital partner Jeff Moorad talks at the SportsPro Investment Summit about the pivotal 15-minute meeting with CEO Zak Brown in Bahrain, turning down a flight home to visit the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC), and how a strategic partnership helped rescue the historic team. Moorad also reflects on the stark contrast between NASCAR and F1’s “champagne circuit,” the impact of Netflix’s Drive to Survive, and how McLaren evolved from a struggling race team into an economic powerhouse.
Here are a few more articles that cover the same topic:
- McLaren ‘considered shutting down F1 team’ during Covid pandemic (BlackBook Motorsport)
- What CYVN’s £450m McLaren investment could mean for F1 team (Sector)
Team & Manufacturer News
- Norris completes first full test in McLaren’s Le Mans Hypercar (Autosport)
- Audi’s long road back to the top of grand prix racing (Autosport)
- Maffi Racing pulls out of F4 CEZ citing “fairness and transparency” (Formula Scout)
- Honda replaces F1 power unit boss in organization shuffle (Autosport)
- BMW Team Studie Set to End Race Activities After 18 Years (Sportscar365)
- Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin built 23XI to challenge NASCAR’s old guard. It’s working (The Athletic)
- Renault veto expires as Horner targets Alpine equity stake for F1 return (GP Blog)
- Evans GP Confirms 2026 Formula Trophy Malaysia Campaign (Evans GP)
- Haas confident of getting 2027 F1 budget closer to cap with new partner talks (Motorsport.com)
- Mike Elliott joins BWT Alpine Formula One Team as Chief Technical Officer (Alpine)
- Genesis Needs “Compelling Business Case” to Enter IMSA (Sportscar365)
Motorsport Movers & Shakers
Stéphane Ratel – The Godfather of GT World
How do you build an entire global racing category from scratch? Stéphane Ratel has spent more than three decades answering that question. The founder of SRO Motorsports Group, Ratel has played a defining role in the rise of modern GT racing, from the BPR Global GT Series to today’s global GT World platform. In this two-part interview, Motorsport Technology looks at how Ratel built the GT racing model, why GT3 became such a successful customer-racing formula, and how Balance of Performance helps bring different manufacturers onto a common playing field. The conversation also looks ahead to the impact of new technology, sustainability and the future of GT racing.
Author: Mark Boudreau
Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects and the host of the Motorsport Prospects Podcast. As a 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.
