Formula 1 makes record $386m loss after COVID-impacted 2020 season

Liberty Media’s financial results revealed Formula 1 made a $386 million loss after the 2020 season was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Friday, Liberty Media’s financial summary for 2020 was released and revealed it had made a significant loss - 44% down on the previous year.

The COVID pandemic meant spectators were mostly unable to attend events, while the impacted calendar also affected revenue significantly.

As a result, overall revenue dropped from $2022m in 2019 to $1145m a year later. Consequently, the total amount of money paid to the teams was reduced to $711m in 2020 compared to $1012m a year prior.

While revenue was down, costs did decrease due to there being fewer races and the schedule being more compact.

Explaining the reduced team payments, Liberty Media said: "Team payments decreased in the full year driven by the contraction in F1 revenue and the associated impact on the calculation of variable elements of team payments. Team payments in 2020 included one-time fees paid to teams upon signing the 2021 Concorde Agreement."

One of F1’s biggest sources of revenue was promotion fees, which was down 18% in 2020.

Many races which were introduced as substitute races for the 2020 campaign did not need to pay a fee to host a grand prix or simply paid less than they would in a normal season.

Liberty Media added: "Race promotion revenue decreased as fans were prohibited from attending all but three races, which led to one-time changes in the contractual terms of the originally scheduled races that remained on the 2020 calendar and limited revenue generated from the replacement races that were added."