Hong Kong Billionaire Steps Into F1 to “Mix It Up a Little Bit” With 11th Team Plans in Hand

F1 is getting popular by the day across the globe. However, the room for participation isn’t. There are many deserving drivers waiting for their chance to showcase their talent at the pinnacle of motorsport. Similarly, there are some who want to jump into the sport with a team of their own. Hong Kong’s billionaire Calvin Lo is one of them.

Calvin Lo’s company, R.E. Lee International, is the largest life insurance brokering company. Lo is also the founder of R.E. Lee Capital, which manages the assets for High Net Worth Individuals and businesses. Lo discovered Formula 1 pretty late, but once he did, it was love at first sight.

How Michael Schumacher inspired Calvin Lo to have an F1 team of his own

Calvin Lo’s exposure to motor racing was limited to Macau races, which he used to watch in Hong Kong. The introduction to Formula 1 was purely coincidental when he was on a business trip to Singapore. In his hotel room, he turned on the TV and F1 was on. Because he was told about Michael Schumacher by people around him, he decided to keep it on. The strategy and teamwork side of the race kept him hooked.

Calvin realizes the booming popularity of the sport and wants non-European teams on the grid, something he is ready to take a step towards.

Planet F1 quoted him saying, “For any new team, Asia, or anywhere outside of Europe, is making the pie bigger.” “At least from my point of view, Asia is demanding more F1. Just watching the TV, there’s a 30 or 40% increase in subscribers just because of F1. So for sure, Asia is a huge market,” he continued.

“I think that is making the pie bigger for everyone. Different players coming into the F1 grid is always better, right? I don’t care whether it’s going to be a top team or the bottom team, but just mix it. Mix it up a little bit. It’s good for everyone up and down the pit lane.”

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Lo also highlighted how difficult it is to float a team into F1. He even talked about how even a former F1 champion, Mario Andretti, is finding it difficult to institute his team into the championship.

Is Toto Wolff against the introduction of new teams in F1?

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff spoke on introducing new teams in F1 in a press conference during the Miami GP. He said that he was sure an American team with an American driver would benefit F1, but it would eat into the prize money shared by all 10 teams.

Toto explained, “we have 10 entries today. We divide the prize fund amongst those 10 entries. We have invested considerable amounts over the last 10 years. Each of the organizations that are sitting here on the podium has probably put more than a billion into their Formula 1 projects over the years.”

Wolff believed all the existing teams would cheer the entry of a new team if they compensated them for the 10% dilution of shares. McLaren CEO Zak Brown echoed a similar sentiment.

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What do you think about introducing a new team? Will it boost the popularity of F1?