F1 revenue falls slightly in second quarter following Imola GP cancellation

2023 F1 season

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Formula 1’s revenue fell slightly in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the same period one year earlier following the cancellation of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

The Imola race was supposed to take place on May 21st. However the event was cancelled two days before practice was due to begin following severe flooding in the region.

That meant F1 held six races in the second quarter of 2023. It originally planned to hold eight, but the Chinese Grand Prix was also cancelled, in December last year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Neither it nor the Imola round were replaced.

As F1 held seven races in the same period a year earlier, it received more income from promoters and also handed less out to the teams this year. Its revenue fell from $744 million (£584m) to $724m year-on-year. The 10 teams shared $344m (£270m) over the three months to June this year, down from $368m last year.

The reduction in the number of races also hit F1’s media rights revenue. However the series claims this was partly offset by rises in subscriptions to F1TV.

F1 also noted $7 million in expenses were paid during this period on costs related to the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix, which will take place in November.

The F1 group generated $141m (£110m) in income over the period, down $5m on the second quarter of 2022.

The series’ CEO Stefano Domenicali said it is “capitalising on our growth momentum and our fans are engaging with the sport across traditional, digital and social media platforms.

“We congratulate Red Bull on their record-breaking performance season-to-date, and are thrilled to see the gaps closing across the rest of the grid to produce exciting rivalries on track. Next year we will host 24 races around the globe, with back-to-back races in closer proximity which will benefit the efficiency of operations for both F1 and our teams.”

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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 revenue falls slightly in second quarter following Imola GP cancellation”

  1. Don’t worry, they’ll just increase the ticket prices another 20% next year.

  2. Surprised to see them claim a rise in F1TV subscriptions. Usually these pay to view deals are the first to get dumped when a season is particularly boring. Although they do have the benefit of being very competitively priced with some national pay to view broadcasters, who inevitably bundle their sports into one big package so that everyone else can help pay for the expensive football broadcasting rights. Perhaps there has been some move away from those national broadcasters, in which case one would expect F1 to have a tough time asking the same price they get now once those contracts need to be renewed.

    1. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I moved from a Sky subscription to F1TV for that reason. Can’t imagine Liberty will be able to get £1bn out of Sky the next time round!

    2. Coventry Climax
      4th August 2023, 19:29

      Care to explain what ‘competitively priced’ exactly means, for those of us who cannot access Sky and couldn’t care less about F1TV?
      I pay about 4 Euro a month to be able to watch F1 and other motorsports, but I have no clue as to what the rest of the world pays.

      1. F1TV asks €65 for 12 months of all access to all sessions and its historic library, while the national rights holder asks €168 for a similar period. The latter includes a ton of non-F1 stuff, but there is no F1-only option so those who want to watch F1 are much better off with the F1TV option.

        It seems that in the UK Sky has paid enough to disallow F1TV subscriptions in the UK. All the more ironic that F1TV is unfortunately an almost 100% English-run operation, with a rare American guest star for some ‘international’ points.

  3. Between my cable package (Viaplay) and various streaming apps and vpn:s, I’d say 60:ish €/ month, but that then includes much,much more than motorsport

    1. Obvs meant as a reply to the thread

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