Who owns Formula 1?
Formula 1 is owned by Liberty Media (the United States, NASDAQ: FWONK), which has owned the brand since 23 January 2017.[1]
Evidence: Liberty Media Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26, SEC EDGAR, 26 February 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Liberty Media Corporation verified
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇺🇸 United States, Englewood, Colorado
- Origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Founded
- 1950
- Category
- Media & entertainment › Live & sport › Sports leagues
- Parent ticker
- NASDAQ: FWONK
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Formula 1
Liberty Media acquired the commercial rights to Formula One in 2017 for about $4.4 billion and reversed decades of restriction on digital coverage. The Netflix series Drive to Survive that followed brought a large new American audience to the sport.
What Liberty Media's annual report says about Formula 1
Sentences about Formula 1 from Liberty Media's latest annual filing[1], copied word for word.
Formula 1 Formula 1 holds the exclusive commercial rights with respect to the F d ration Internationale de l'Automobile ("FIA") Formula One World Championship (the "F1 Championship"), an annual, approximately nine-month long, motor race-based competition in which teams (the "Formula 1 Teams") compete for the Constructors' Championship and drivers compete for the Drivers' Championship.
The F1 Championship, which has been held every year since 1950 and takes place on high profile iconic circuits, is a global series with a varying number of events ("Formula 1 Events") taking place in different countries around the world each season.
In 2025, the F1 Championship was followed by hundreds of millions of television viewers in approximately 200 territories and the largest Formula 1 Events have hosted live audiences in excess of 450,000 on race weekends.
How often Liberty Media names Formula 1 in its annual report
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central. The brand is named more often than it was three years earlier.
Ownership timeline of Formula 1
- 2017 – present Liberty Media [1] verified
Where Formula 1 sits in Liberty Media
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Liberty Media ownership tree →
See the full Liberty Media brand portfolio (2) →
Other brands owned by Liberty Media
Liberty Media controls 2 brands on Brandtree, 2 of them in media & entertainment.
Also in media & entertainment
- MotoGP (1949)
Other brands in sports leagues, and who owns them
The 18 brands in sports leagues on Brandtree belong to 10 owners. The largest is MSG Sports, with 4; Liberty Media has 2.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Hartford Wolf Pack | MSG Sports | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Celtic FC Women | Celtic plc | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
| Juventus | Juventus FC S.p.A. | 🇮🇹 Italy |
| Manchester United | Manchester United plc | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
| UFC | TKO Group | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Atlanta Braves | Atlanta Braves Holdings | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Borussia Dortmund | Borussia Dortmund KGaA | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| Professional Bowlers Association | Lucky Strike Entertainment | 🇺🇸 United States |
About the owner: Liberty Media
Liberty Media is a publicly listed company headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, United States, founded in 1991. Brandtree records 2 brands under its control, and it is listed as NASDAQ: FWONK.
Liberty Media is John Malone's holding company, known for tracking stocks and complex structures that let it hold unrelated assets under one listing. It owns the commercial rights to Formula One and MotoGP, so two of the world's largest motorsport series share an American owner.
Liberty Media: full profile, brands and acquisition history →
🇬🇧 Formula 1 and other British brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 552 brands that began in the United Kingdom. 291 of them (53%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Formula 1 among them.
- Anime Limited — TOHO 🇯🇵
- BelfastLive — Reach 🇬🇧
- Celtic FC Women — Celtic plc 🇬🇧
- Chrysalis Records — Reservoir 🇺🇸
- Country Life — Future 🇬🇧
- Eventim Apollo — CTS Eventim 🇩🇪
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Formula 1?
The parent company of Formula 1 is Liberty Media, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Is Formula 1 British or American?
Formula 1 originated in the United Kingdom in 1950, but it is owned today by Liberty Media, which is headquartered in the United States. So Formula 1 is a British-origin brand under American ownership.
Since when has Liberty Media owned Formula 1?
Liberty Media has owned Formula 1 since 23 January 2017.
Is Formula 1 still owned by Liberty Media?
Yes. As of 11 October 2026, Formula 1 is still owned by Liberty Media. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Liberty Media Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 26 February 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
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