The sport of Formula One (FWONK) is big business — and British team McLaren Racing is capitalizing on it.

The sport’s popularity surged during the pandemic, when cooped-up viewers binged Netflix’s (NFLX) “Drive to Survive” series, but the sport’s growth has continued. Many attribute this to the leadership of Liberty Media (LLYVK), who purchased the sport from PE firm CVC Capital Partners back in 2017.

For decades, F1 had failed to tap into the huge US market, but that trend has reversed.

“If you look at when Liberty acquired the sport, the thing that we needed to do to grow was crack the code in North America. I think we’ve done that and are only getting started,” McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown told Yahoo Finance.

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia steers his car during the qualifying session ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza racetrack in Monza, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) · ASSOCIATED PRESS

Brown said the three races here in the US — in Miami, Austin, and Las Vegas — are giving the sport a foothold in the country. That, plus a younger, more diverse audience and a spending cost cap that made teams more competitive has only enhanced the sport.

The result? F1 viewership in the US is on track to hit a record for the 2025 season, with an average of 1.4 million viewers per race, according to rights holder ESPN (DIS). The growth of the sport means it will likely garner a bigger price tag for its streaming rights next year, with Apple (AAPL) reportedly offering Liberty Media $150 million per year, well above the $85 million that ESPN pays for the current package.

Brown also noted that seven different drivers won multiple races, adding to the drama for viewers. “It’s the first time in my 30 years of following the sport, seeing that level of competitiveness,” he said.

Brown had two of those winning drivers in his McLaren stable: Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris both won multiple races, catapulting McLaren to the overall team championship last year — its first since 1998.

Winning on track also means more money in the team’s coffers, as F1’s prize pool is paid out depending on success on the track, and it also means more money from sponsors like Dell (DELL), Google (GOOGL), and its new title sponsor, Mastercard (MA).

This also means teams like McLaren are becoming more valuable. Bloomberg reports that McLaren Racing is now valued at more than $4.1 billion following completion of a new stake sale, which would be a significant premium.

“I think I would say great value, not a premium,” Brown said with a smile, neither confirming nor denying the valuation but claiming it wasn’t “a million miles off.”

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia, left, and McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain walk through the paddock after the qualifying session ahead of the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza racetrack in Monza, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) · ASSOCIATED PRESS

The McLaren share sale underscores continued investor enthusiasm about the sport, Brown said.

“You have racing teams now lined up trying to get in the sport, or writing checks,” he said. “[You have to spend] half a billion just to have the right to be a Formula One team, forget about what it costs to actually acquire a team where not long ago, a lot of teams were in trouble and you were buying them out of administration.”