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Topflight racing series Formula One kicked off its 75th season Tuesday night in London.
Formula One — owned by Liberty Media (FWONK) for eight years — continued its push to make the sport more accessible for fans and an even bigger spectacle for broadcast. For the first time, all teams revealed their 2025 race cars at once and at the same place, London’s O2 Arena.
The sport is coming off a huge year in terms of attendance and viewership and is adding more races to the calendar. And just today, Bloomberg reported that Morgan Stanley's top-performing Global Opportunity Fund opened a position in Liberty Media, a bet on the sport's growth.
The London event was not only a way for F1 to show off new cars and new tech but also a chance for fans to get up close and see the sport's stars, Formula One's drivers.
Fueling the popularity of the sport and its drivers — especially in the US — is Netflix's "Drive to Survive" Formula One docuseries, which gives fans an inside look at the teams, drivers, and personalities that run the sport.
The show's seventh season will air shortly, most likely in March, ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
"It's done really well. It's grown, especially in America. It's something that I've spent a lot of time on here now, and I can feel sort of it growing around and people becoming really interested," said Red Bull Racing driver Liam Lawson to Yahoo Finance about the Netflix effect. "Obviously we have more races here [in the US] as well, so yeah, it's exciting."
Lawson, who replaced Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull F1's sister team Racing Bulls for the last six races of 2024, was promoted to Red Bull's top team for the 2025 season.
The New Zealander spoke to fans and members of the press at Ford's Performance Racing School in Charlotte, N.C., at the end of January. Ford will join the grid with Red Bull as its powertrain partner starting in 2026, bringing an American automaker presence back on the track. Ford left F1 in 2004 when it sold its Jaguar Racing team, ironically to Red Bull.
GM's Cadillac will also join Formula One at the start of 2026, proof that American brands are looking for a presence in the global sport.
Marquee F1 races in Miami, Las Vegas, and Austin, Texas, show how important the sport, and owner Liberty Media, see the US market.
On top of all that, F1's US broadcast rights are up at the end of this year, another potential bonanza for Liberty Media.
Reports suggest ESPN, which currently pays around $90 million a year to show the sport in the US, will not seek renewal as it anticipates the license fee will jump significantly considering the sport's growth in the US.