F1 could be sold within two years, claims former Liberty Media boss

Former Liberty Media boss Greg Maffei believes Formula 1 could be taken private within the next two years in a deal that could value the series at $30 billion.

Liberty Media completed its acquisition of F1 in January of 2017, taking it over from CVC Capital for around $4.6 billion.

Under the US company’s leadership, F1 has seen massive growth, having breached the mainstream through Drive To Survive, and increasing its footprint in key markets such as the US and the Middle East.

Since 2017, F1’s share price has increased by 250%. Liberty Media now also owns MotoGP after a €4.2 billion buyout in 2024.

“The easy money has been made”

F1’s popularity remains huge, which is having a knock-on effect on the valuation of the 11 teams on the grid currently.

The series continues to expand its market reach, too, with Africa set to join the calendar in the early 2030s with a race in Rwanda.

F1 has also been linked with a permanent return to Malaysia, following the success of the Bahrain Grand Prix being hosted at Sepang in October.

Now, former Liberty CEO Greg Meffei believes the company could look to cash out on the near-$30 billion value of F1 within the next 24 months.

Speaking at Sportico’s Invest New York 2026 conference earlier this week, Maffei was asked if F1 will still be on the stock market in 2028.

“I’ll say F1 is gone,” he replied.

He added: “The easy money’s been made. The EBIDTA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is up three times in eight or nine years.

“It’s not going to go up three times again in the next eight or nine years.”

Any ownership change of F1 would have to be approved by the FIA, who owns the intellectual property rights for the series.

Liberty taking F1 private could open the door for the championship to follow in the footsteps of US sports, where an investor partners with teams over ownership.

F1 has made no public comment about Maffei’s comments.

F1’s revenue stabilised in the third quarter

The war in Iran had a knock-on effect on F1’s revenue in 2026, with the cancelled April races seeing a drop of 38%.

However, things have now stabilised, with Liberty reporting last week that its earnings up to the third quarter were down just $2m compared to the same period in 2025.

Should the Qatar and Abu Dhabi races go ahead as planned at the end of November and beginning of December, F1 should see out the year strongly.