F1 finances are as strong as they’ve ever been, as current revenue levels are understood to be over $3 billion.
This has led to F1 teams increasing their profit margins, with Ferrari being estimated as the championship’s most valuable constructor at $3.9b, ahead of Mercedes on $3.8b.
But even the least valuable teams are still financially strong, as Williams is worth approximately $725m.
This comes amid F1’s popularity boom, which has resulted in numerous investors entering the series in the 2020s - so who is each team owned by?
Red Bull Racing - Red Bull GmbH
Private conglomerate Red Bull GmbH, mostly known for its energy drinks brand, caused a stir when it bought Jaguar Racing in 2005 to create an F1 team in its own name. Red Bull Racing has since become one of the most successful teams in F1 history, winning 13 world championships (six constructors and seven drivers) with star drivers like Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen.
Although Christian Horner has been Red Bull's team principal since its debut, he does not hold a stake in the brand. Instead, Red Bull has two shareholders: Chalerm Yoovidhya (51%) and Mark Mateschitz (49%), whose late fathers founded the Austro-Thai company in 1984.
Mercedes F1 Team - Mercedes-Benz Group, Toto Wolff and INEOS
The Mercedes F1 Team is owned in equal parts by three parties: Mercedes-Benz Group, CEO Toto Wolff and INEOS.
This current Mercedes team joined F1 in 2010 when Daimler, now known as the Mercedes-Benz Group, purchased a 45.1% stake in reigning world champions Brawn GP, while Aabar Investments acquired 30%. Both entities bought the remaining 24.9% in 2011, then owned by team management, before Daimler assumed full control in 2012.
The team had another ownership reshuffle in 2013 when Wolff joined from Williams and purchased a 30% stake. This coincided with the non-executive chairman of the board Niki Lauda buying 10%, while the parent company owned the remaining 60%.
That structure helped Mercedes to win a record-breaking six consecutive double world championships from 2014 to 2019, the year Lauda died, meaning his 10% was returned to Mercedes. In 2020, chemical company INEOS bought a third of the company which resulted in Wolff increasing his stake and Daimler decreasing its majority share, before Mercedes won its eighth straight constructors’ title the following year.
Scuderia Ferrari - Public, Exor N.V. and Piero Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A runs its own F1 team, which is the only constructor to have competed in every season since the series debuted in 1950. Ferrari’s ownership is split three ways: public (67.09%), Exor N.V. (22.91%) and Piero Ferrari (10%).
The Italian manufacturer has been a public trading company since 2015 with stock exchange listings in New York and Milan. Through those listings, Exor N.V. purchased a stake and that is the holding company of the Agnelli family, the founders of Fiat, with John Elkann, Ferrari chairman, also acting as its CEO. When Enzo Ferrari died in 1988, he passed 10% of the company to his second and only living son Piero, who also serves as vice chairman.
McLaren Racing - McLaren Group and MSP Sports Capital
McLaren Racing is 67% owned by the McLaren Group, which is the holding company founded by Ron Dennis in 1985 that runs both the motorsport and automotive branches of the McLaren family.
The group undertook a leadership change in March 2024 when Mumtalakat, the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain, gained full ownership after first holding a 30% share in 2007. It became a majority holder when Dennis sold his remaining 25% in 2017, before taking full ownership “following the conversion of all preference shares into ordinary shares”.
American investment firm MSP Sports Capital also holds a minority stake in the F1 team, after investing £185m for 15% in 2020 before increasing to 33% come the end of 2022.
Aston Martin F1 Team - AMR Holdings GP Limited and Arctos Partners
The Silverstone-based squad has experienced several ownership changes over the years. It began with Jordan in 1991 before team founder Eddie Jordan sold his outfit to the Midland Group in 2005, who in turn passed it onto Spyker Cars the following year.
A consortium led by businessmen Vijay Mallya and Michiel Mol bought the Spyker team in 2007 and formed Force India, but the squad entered administration 11 years later. This resulted in a consortium of investors called Racing Point UK, led by Lawrence Stroll, purchasing the assets and rebranding the team as Racing Point Force India before dropping the ‘Force India’ tag in 2019.
Racing Point UK later became AMR Holdings GP Limited in 2021 to coincide with the constructor becoming the Aston Martin F1 Team, after Stroll became the manufacturer’s executive chairman. This means the F1 team has remained under that ownership guise since 2018, although November 2023 saw private equity firm Arctos Partners purchase an undisclosed, minority share in the team’s holding company.
Alpine F1 Team - Renault Group and Otro Capital
The Enstone-based squad has also gone through various ownership changes, just like the team from Silverstone. It is currently under the leadership of the Renault Group, whom the team was named after until 2021 when it switched to Alpine which is the company’s sports car brand.
But it is not a full ownership. This is because in June 2023, the team sold 24% of its shares to US-based investment group Otro Capital, which includes RedBird Capital Partners and Maximum Effort Investments for just over €200m.
The deal sparked a huge reaction because the investment group includes a series of high-profile athletes like world champion boxer Anthony Joshua, England footballer Trent Alexander-Arnold, golf major championship winner Rory McIlroy and Super Bowl-winning quarterback Patrick Mahomes - as well as Hollywood actors and Wrexham FC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
RB F1 Team - Red Bull GmbH
RB is the second F1 constructor owned by Red Bull GmbH, who bought the team from Minardi for the 2006 season and rebranded it as Toro Rosso - which is ‘Red Bull’ in Italian, where the squad is based.
Toro Rosso was formed to serve as Red Bull’s junior team, meaning that over the years seven drivers have raced for the Faenza-based squad before being ‘promoted’ to Red Bull - those seven being Vettel, Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kvyat, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Robert Doornbos, though he was signed from Minardi.
But Red Bull running both teams is quite controversial, as McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has voiced his discontent over two squads having such a close partnership. Although the ‘A’ team has been called Red Bull since its debut, Toro Rosso rebranded as AlphaTauri for 2020 before becoming RB in 2024.
Williams Racing - Dorilton Capital
Williams Racing was once F1’s dominant team as it won 16 world championships (nine constructors and seven drivers) across the 1980s and 1990s, after Frank Williams and Patrick Head co-founded the squad in 1977 with the former holding the majority share.
But the 21st century brought financial challenges that Williams struggled to cope with, as big corporations like Mercedes and Red Bull entered F1 while manufacturers like Ferrari already had a greater budget.
This led to it becoming F1’s least competitive outfit at the time the Williams family relinquished control in 2020, with Dorilton Capital taking full ownership. Dorilton is a US-based private investment firm that invests in businesses across different industry sectors and Matthew Savage serves as its chairman.
Sauber - Longbow Finance S.A. and Audi
Peter Sauber formed PP Sauber AG, later known as Sauber Motorsport, in 1970 to originally compete in sports cars before moving to F1 for 1993. Just two years after its debut, Red Bull GmbH’s co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz purchased a majority share with the energy drinks brand serving as Sauber’s title sponsor.
But the two parties then had a falling out when the team signed an inexperienced Kimi Raikkonen for 2001 over the Red Bull-backed Enrique Bernoldi. This led to Mateschitz selling his stake to global investment bank Credit Suisse in 2002, who then sold its share to BMW three years later while Peter retained 20% of his company.
BMW’s withdrawal at the end of 2009 meant Peter repurchased his team, before transferring a third of the company to CEO Monisha Kaltenborn in 2012. Just four years later there was yet another ownership change, as the company was sold to Swiss investment firm Longbow Finance S.A and the sale coincided with Peter’s retirement.
German manufacturer Audi then acquired a 25% stake in early 2023 as preparation for a full takeover come 2026, which will result in the team being named after the Volkswagen-owned brand.
Haas F1 Team - Haas Automation
The Haas F1 Team is run by Haas Automation, who has full ownership of the squad. Haas Automation is a machine tool manufacturer that was founded by American entrepreneur Gene Haas, who first formed a NASCAR team in 2002 before adding F1 to his portfolio in 2016.
Given this, Haas does not have the same backing as the likes of Ferrari or Mercedes, resulting in it being one of F1’s least competitive outfits since its debut. Nevertheless, it still receives enough investment with money transfer company MoneyGram serving as its title sponsor.
