Profits beckon for all F1 teams: 'I wouldn't sell a team now!'

Liberty Media and the FIA have done a lot in recent years to make the sport cheaper and more popular. Toto Wolff says that has clearly had an effect, meaning all teams will soon be profitable.

To maintain a Formula 1 team you need a lot of capital. It's certainly no guarantee for teams that they will earn their investment back. That's why we've seen many teams go under in the past, most recently Manor.

Since Liberty Media has been at the helm however, much has been done, together with the FIA ​​and the teams, to make Formula 1 cheaper and more popular. Those measures have clearly had an effect, according to Toto Wolff.

"It's a very good time for Formula 1 at the moment, because the audience is growing, the popularity is growing and we are slowly but surely tapping into the Americas. Stefano Domenicali has done a great job together with Liberty," Wolff explained to The race.

According to the Mercedes team principal, the budget cap has created a clear ceiling and that is how a sport should be. "It shouldn't just be a place for marketing and a cost center. It should be a profitable business, just like American teams in other sports."

Making money with an F1 team

The budget cap, in particular, has created a lot of clarity. Teams are allowed to spend a maximum of $145 million in 2021 and next year the cap will go down again. "We are clearly close to the moment when F1 is profitable and I believe, or at least I hope, that all teams will soon be profitable or on the verge of it."

For Wolff, at least, it is clear that he will not stop as a shareholder of an F1 team for the time being. "I would not sell a team. On the contrary, with INEOS as a new sponsor I have bought an additional three percent of shares and I am very happy with that," concluded the team boss.