Formula 1 is, not surprisingly, not spared from the Covid-19 pandemic. Revenues from activities related to the top motorsport competition, owned by the American group Liberty Media, collapsed in the first quarter, mainly due to the suspension of the world championship.

According to its results, published Thursday, May 7, Liberty Media saw its revenues from F1, which it has promoted since 2017, drop from 246 million dollars in the first quarter of 2019, to 39 million this year, a drop of 84%.

The operating loss from these activities reached $ 137 million compared to a loss of $ 47 million over the same period last year.

Truncated season, in camera planned

All GrandsPprix in the F1 world championship, which was supposed to start in Australia on March 15, have been postponed or canceled, and no date has yet been set for a resumption.

"F1 currently hopes to start racing in July and continue until December with a target of around 15-18 races. It is still unclear whether spectators will be able to attend," said Liberty Media in its results release.

The revenues that Liberty Media, which belongs to the American billionaire John Malone, generates from F1 come from the sums paid by the organizers of the Grand Prix, those paid by the broadcasters as well as sponsorship.

A situation that will continue

Revenues generated by F1 in the first quarter come only from sponsorship contracts associated with events unrelated to the Grand Prix, it was said from the same source, stressing that this situation should recur in the second quarter.

To free up the liquidity necessary for the payment of the sums which Liberty Media must contractually pay back to the F1 teams, the American group carried out in April through an accounting operation the transfer within its treasury of 1.5 billion dollars allocated initially to its SiriusXM satellite radio operations.

The share price attached to Liberty Media's F1 activities and listed on Nasdaq, the electronic stock market, has lost some 30% of its value since the start of the year.

With AFP

The France 24 week summary invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you! Download the France 24 app

google-play-badge_FR