Calvin Lo interview: Billionaire on finding a way into Formula 1
Hong Kong businessman and billionaire Calvin Lo wants to deepen his roots in Formula 1. The Michael Schumacher fanboy is the latest wealthy individual looking at the motor racing circus that is F1 as a major sporting investment.
“If whoever comes in plays their cards right, there are lots of opportunities,” Lo told City PM
“Once you want to come in, the hurdle to entry is high. There’s no ifs and buts.”
F1’s grid is currently made up of 10 teams, and that’s tended to be the goldilocks number for the last number of seasons.
One of the big reasons for this? An 11th team must pay $200m into a fund that goes to compensate the other teams for the dilution of revenue when TV money is split between 11 and not 10 teams.
The sport has seen the public campaign by American team Andretti to get a team into the series while Porsche were, until recently, in discussions with Red Bull to enter the sport. Honda are also reportedly looking into a return as a manufacturer in 2026.
Numbers
“We’re talking big numbers [to get involved],” added insurance tycoon Lo, whose wealth is estimated by Forbes to be $1.7bn. “I see the financials as a huge opportunity and that’s where my role will be.
“There are some current teams, the usual suspects [Williams, who this week replaced their chief executive this week, is thought to be one of those, although Lo wouldn’t confirm], that are faced some financial difficulties in the last season or two and their representatives or intermediaries have approached me.
“There are two [teams] I think need some sort of financial injection and a concerted action needed to continue racing.
“I just glance over the numbers, it [their predicament] is pretty serious.
“My team is crunching the numbers as we speak because if we are going to go down the path of putting a car on the grid in 2026, it has to be done yesterday.”
There are two [teams] I think need some sort of financial injection and a concerted action needed to continue racing.
Calvin Lo
Lo runs a Hong Kong-based broking company named RE Lee International and has several residences on multiple continents.
The 46-year-old businessman cites his reasoning for loving Formula 1 over the likes of football and cricket being purely down to legend Schumacher.
And he already has business links with the sport.
Lo links
In August 2021 Williams was sold to US investment management company Dorilton Capital – of which Lo is a client, although he has declined to confirm whether he owns a stake in the team.
“It is important to convince the rest [of the F1 community] that the pie could be bigger,” Lo said when asked about what the opportunity to be in Formula 1 offers.
“There’s someone coming in [Lo] to look into the numbers, which is not the usual way of F1 doing things, which may widen that pie for everyone.
“I would hope [to make the pie bigger]. F1 is more accessible now through the internet and social media.
“I see a glimpse of the backstory behind a two-hour race. It’s interesting to me.”
But whether Lo enters Formula 1 through one of the smaller teams with a takeover or comes in like Andretti intends to with a new team, what about the pull of investing in one of the big three racing teams?
Big players
While unlikely, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull are the current dominant trio – and the golden assets of the sport.
“Any team on the grid is incredible and I don’t care whether you’re No1 or the last,” Lo added.
“I think it’s fair to say that the last 10-20 years the top teams like Mercedes and Red Bull, these are what people are aiming to achieve.
“Especially a team like Red Bull who are not a car manufacturer, just a bunch of people assembling a car. What they’ve achieved is pretty incredible.
“[A big team would be] hard to turn down but [they’re] also very hard to come by.”