PADDOCK 51 THE F1 BILLIONAIRES RICH LIST Hi all! By Garry Sloan The phenomenon of Formula 1 is portrayed as high-octane excite- ment, however behind this façade lies a somewhat ruthless business Garry Sloan is the attracting individuals with very deep pockets. Step forward the bil- author of 'In the pit lionaires involved in Formula 1 at all levels. lane – F1 exposed' and 'Cash is King The F1 Billionaires Rich List explores the world these individuals live - Inside F1's Mon- in and examines their infl uence within the sport’s diff erent areas. ey Maze'. The books he hopes will spark The list profi les 20 billionaires and asks the ultimate question – just discussion and may- how good are they really for Formula 1 in general? be positive chang- es within the sport The following register includes team owners, sponsors, circuit pro- we all love... He moters, broadcasters, and the commercial rights holders. We’re sure uses his investiga- you’ll meet people you’ve heard of here, and also might stumble on tive talents and fo- a few surprises. rensic analysis to explore the busi- ness and commer- cial side of F1. More Respectfully yours, details at garrys- loan.com Garry Sloan 54 PADDOCK CARLOS SLIM HELU AND FAMILY 1 $68.6 BN Mexican – Driver Sponsor So began a long association with Perez throughout his career with Sauber, McLar- Previously the wealthiest person glob- en, Force India, Racing Point, and Red Bull. ally and Mexico’s richest man Carlos Slim Perez landed the deal to drive for Red Bull Helu controls América Móvil, Latin Ameri- in the 2021 season, and ironically for the ca’s most prominent mobile telecom fi rm. fi rst time in his career, the money he could Through Grupo Carso one of the giant con- bring to the team played no signifi cant part glomerates in the world, he also owns in Red Bull’s decision. stakes in Mexican construction, consum- In 2011 Carlos Slim Domit was instru- er goods, mining, real estate companies, mental through his association with the en- and 17% of The New York Times. Despite tertainment company CIE in bringing back his vast wealth he lives in a “modest” 6-bed- F1 to Mexico. room home in the Lomas de Chapultep- In 2019 newly elected president Andres ec district of Mexico City, close to where he Manuel Lopez Obrador used $21m in fed- grew up, which has been his residence for eral funds usually set aside for the Formu- over 40 years. He also owns the Duke Se- la 1 race on a rail project in Mexico’s impov- mans mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York erished south and announced it would no City, one of Manhattan’s largest private res- longer subsidize the Grand Prix once the idences. Amongst his billionaire toys are a existing contract expired at the end of the rare Bentley Continental Flying Spur and year. the 170ft $40m superyacht Ostar. His col- Without government funding, the organ- lection of rare coins, historical documents, izers OCESA, a subsidiary of CIE, were faced and religious relics, valued at a billion dol- with the prospect of withdrawing from F1. lars, are housed in the Museo Soumaya, Then the mayor of Mexico City,Claudia which he built in 2011, naming the museum Sheinbaum Pardo and a group of business after his late wife. The Carlos Slim Foun- owners forged a partnership. The Mexico dation has donated billions of dollars over City Government acting as an intermediary, the years to social responsibility programs. created a trust that raised the private in- His involvement in F1 with his son Carlos vestment required to stage the Grand Prix, Slim Domit has been the fi nancial backing thus relieving the city government of the of Mexican driver Sergio Perez. It all started burden. with their Telmex telecoms company spon- They signed a new three-year deal, en- soring Perez’s career from the Skip Bar- suring the future of the race until at least ber single-seater series in America. Perez’s 2020, with the name of the race changed father, Antonio Perez Garibay (known as from the Mexico Grand Prix to the Mexico Tono), a former driver and agent, was so City Grand Prix. passionate about motor racing he moved It is unknown if Carlos Slim Domit was his son’s scheduled birth date by a week. one of the ‘business owners’, but it is high- Tono convinced the family doctor to per- ly likely. form a Caesarean so he could attend the 1990’s 24 Hours of Daytona a week later! What infl uence does Carlos Slim Helu Tono met Carlos Slim Domit in 1996 and have in F1? told him that his son was the best of the It is limited to backing one driver; so rookie go-kart drivers proclaiming, “Checo tiny especially compared to what power he is a better driver than [Michael] Schumach- could hold if he decided to spend more of er. He’ll race in Formula One one day.” his vast fortune. PADDOCK 55 SIR LEN BLAVATNIK $32.5 BN 2 Dual US/UK citizen – F1 Broadcaster The company is going into battle with the likes of SkySports, winning rights to boxing Ukraine-born Blavatnik, like many of his fel- previously held by Sky and recently securing low Russians, made his early fortune from the the rights to show seven exclusive Italian Se- ‘privatisation’ of Soviet Union assets, in his case, rie A football matches per week in a deal worth aluminium. $987m per season. There is a Russian saying that you should They are taking on Amazon in the UK, which never ask an oligarch how he made his fi rst has broadcast Premier League football matches million! since 2019 and has bidding rights for the 2022- In 2013 Blavatnik sold his stake in Russian oil 25 seasons. company TNK-BP for $7bn. DAZN chairman Kevin Mayer recently stat- Today his investments are channelled ed: “Yeah, I think we are in the position to do it. through his industrial group Access Industries We have the capital to do it, and Len Blavatnik is which includes over $3.8 billion in art and real committed to it. And it’s going to work. estate and a $2 billion share of the DAZN group. Well, Blavatnik is indeed committed to grow- He holds a $6.8 billion stake in chemical giant ing the company. He lent the group $1bn to fa- LyondellBasell Industries which he saved from cilitate its growth during the pandemic. bankruptcy during the fi nancial crises back in Blavatnik is well connected, citing former Is- 2009. raeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and In 2017, he received a knighthood for servic- Ukrainian-born Russian oligarch Victor Veksel- es to philanthropy, and his foundation has do- berg as friends. However, he will no doubt re- nated more than $700 million between 2009 gret his friendship with the disgraced Harvey and 2019. Weinstein. His involvement in F1 comes through his Blavatnik has all the billionaire toys, including ownership of the global sports subscription ser- the obligatory $80m 242 ft superyacht Odessa vice DAZN. 11 and four private jets, including a $150m Boe- DAZN has just launched a 24/7 dedicated ing 767. He owns a home in Kensington Palace Spanish language channel DAZN F1 in Spain af- Gardens worth $315m. Famously he was part- ter reaching an agreement with Telefonica’s ing aboard his yacht in Cannes with the likes of Moviestar+ to broadcast races until the start of Jane Fonda, Melanie Griffi th, and Sarah Jessica 2024. The channel will have veteran Spanish F1 Parker, and when a certain Mick Jagger pulled commentator Antonio Lobato and ex-F1 driv- up looking to join the fun, Blavatnik turned him er Pedro de la Rosa heading up the coverage. away. Blavatnik will undoubtedly be pleased DAZN is already covering most sports and is in- with the recent announcement of a race in Mi- volved in motorsport covering Indy car, Formu- ami as he invested $1.2bn into Faena district laE, ExtremeE, the Dakar Rally, the World Endur- back in 2016. ance, and the World Touring car series. DAZN set their sights on 20 Spanish speaking coun- What infl uence does Sir Len Blavatnik tries, and the next step will include a Portu- have in F1? guese F1 channel to cover 11 Portuguese speak- In terms of the TV landscape, he is a consid- ing countries. In February, DAZN announced its erable force. He has facilitated a bidding war for sponsorship of the Scuderia AlphaTauri team for the broadcast rights in F1, with Liberty collect- the 2021 season and signed Yuki Tsunoda as a ing the spoils from the victor. brand ambassador in Japan. DAZN means busi- This infl uence is a concern for Formula 1 ness, and in March 2020, they announced the fans, as DAZN will only accelerate the move expansion into 200 countries worldwide, with its away from free-to-air and place coverage be- boxing coverage spearheading the grow hind a paywall. 56 PADDOCK DIETRICH MATESCHIT 3 $27.9 BN Austrian – Team Shareholder and opportunities to spend the marketing dollars on. Circuit Owner Mateschitz’s involvement in F1 started with Red Bull’s sponsorship of the Sauber F1 Team, which Dietrich Mateschitz is the co-founder of the led to his purchase in 2004 of the Jaguar F1 team, Red Bull energy drinks empire. He famously start- which in 2005 was renamed Red Bull Racing. ed the company after watching rickshaw riders in Success followed with four successive Driv- Thailand drinking a syrup-based drink to maintain ers’ and Constructors’ Championship titles from their energy levels.