CNBC SPECIAL: Inside Track - The Business of Formula 1 | Episode 1

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Toto Wolff (0:36)

In our business, it's the stopwatch. If we win, financial success is going to follow.

Guenther Steiner (0:40)

This is just like a normal business. The only difference is our bottom line is result on the race track.

SPEAKER_4 (0:46)

The spring break is over. It's time to go racing.

Sara Eisen (0:50)

Formula 1

A legendary motorsports league. Yes, he can! Enjoying a surge in popularity.

Christian Horner (1:01)

The business is just growing and growing, and the US has gone crazy and has woken up to what Formula 1 is. So it's flying.

SPEAKER_7 (1:08)

We've got a lot more newer, younger audience now. People are really excited about the sport and where it's going.

Sara Eisen (1:15)

10 teams and 20 drivers. Driven by courage and fueled with money.

SPEAKER_4 (1:25)

It costs about $50 million to develop and there are a couple million dollars to actually build one.

Sara Eisen (1:32)

A global sport being reshaped by American investment and strategy.

Greg Maffei (1:36)

Today, I don't think you could buy a team for less than $750 million and the top teams are valued three billion. So that's a total change.

Sara Eisen (1:44)

And now in Las Vegas, making one of its biggest bets ever. When you look out on the strip right now, what do you see?

SPEAKER_9 (1:50)

I see what is going to be absolutely lit up in an incredible spectacle.

SPEAKER_10 (1:54)

As the crowd roars the drivers off.

Toto Wolff (1:57)

Over the long term, we want to be associated with a winner and must not fool ourselves. That needs to be the trajectory.

Sara Eisen (2:05)

I'm Sara Eisen, and this is Inside Track, the business of Formula 1, a special CNBC podcast. Act 1, Formula 1 and the Liberty Era.

It's considered the most elite of all racing leagues. Where cars from celebrated automakers rock it down the track at speeds reaching 220 miles an hour. Formula 1 has long been a sport for the purists, powered by cutting edge technology. But the masses have moved in, fawning over drivers like rock stars and following their drama on and off the track.

SPEAKER_7 (2:47)

Straight ahead for General Demission and Grandstand.

Sara Eisen (2:49)

To understand where the business of F1 is going, you have to know where it came from.

SPEAKER_11 (2:54)

Get your programs, car don't curse.

Sara Eisen (2:56)

And that's a place called Silverstone. Here in the UK, 480,000 fans gather for a July weekend to witness the rush of racing.

And to get a driver's eye view, I'm gearing up and heading out on an experience usually reserved for VIPs. But this is something extra special. I'm getting in the car with Toto Wolff, the CEO, co-owner and team principal of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team.

SPEAKER_9 (3:33)

You have to make sure my seatbelt is right. I've never, I don't think on more than 90 miles per hour or 80

Sara Eisen (3:40)

Today, we'll go more than twice that fast on what's called a hot lap.

Toto Wolff (3:45)

Let's do a proper burnout.

Sara Eisen (3:54)

It's one loop around a Formula 1 track during a race weekend. Born in Austria, Wolff raced professionally for a few years before mapping out a career in finance and then making his way back to the racetrack.

Toto Wolff (4:06)

Formula 1 is a technical sport. It's an engineering competition.

Sara Eisen (4:10)

You're unique because you are CEO, principal and part owner of Mercedes. Which one takes the most time?

Toto Wolff (4:18)

Well, the engineers will always say that I'm spending too much on the CEO side. My priority must always be to create a framework where our performance people are able to thrive.

Sara Eisen (4:30)

Every F1 season, there are two world championship titles up for grabs. One for the car constructors and one for the drivers. Mercedes won the constructors title eight years in a row, from 2014 to 2021 The star of the Mercedes team, and arguably the biggest celebrity in all of F1, is seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

So this is Lewis' car?

Toto Wolff (4:54)

This is Lewis' car, number 44

Sara Eisen (4:57)

What's it made out of?

Toto Wolff (4:58)

So underneath the bodywork that you see, that's all composite, that's carbon. If you touch it, you will see that it's ultra lightweight. Here, it's just the bodywork.