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F1 owner Liberty Media is reportedly close to buying MotoGP's parent company Dorna Sports in a €4,000,000,000 deal.
Liberty Media bought the Formula One Group in 2017 in a multi-billion dollar deal. Now, purchasing Dorna Sports would be another opportunity for the former to get their hands over MotoGP, Superbike World Championship, and MotoE.
According to The Financial Times, while Liberty Media is close to making the final deal, Dorna was also approached by TKO, which owns WWE and UFC. Furthermore, Qatar Sports Investments, owners of the French football club Paris-Saint Germain was also interested in the deal, holding talks with Bridgepoint. They (Bridgepoint) own a 40% stake in Dorna Sports.
But as FT further mentioned in the report, the deal could face regulatory scrutiny. CVC Capital Partners were once the owner of both F1 and MotoGP but had to sell the latter after facing similar issues because the EU competition regulators expressed their concerns.
This could turn out to be a major move by Liberty Media and might bring in major changes in both sports, which is not just limited to perhaps newer countries to race in.
Hopes for more competition in F1 rise after the 2024 Australian GP
Max Verstappen of Red Bull has dominated the F1 grid since winning his first world championship in 2021. New aerodynamics regulations were introduced in the following year, which gave Red Bull Racing the chance to build a car that was perfect for Verstappen to assert domination.
He broke multiple records at the end of the 2023 season, winning 19 races throughout. Carlos Sainz won the only race that season not to be won by a Red Bull driver, the 2023 Singapore GP.
Verstappen dominated for the remainder of the season after that and headed into the 2024 season with the same momentum. After winning the first two races, he had high hopes for the Australian GP as well. Interestingly, however, a mechanical failure in his brakes meant that he had to retire on the third lap of the race itself.
This gave Ferrari the window to lead the race for the most part, bringing down another win for Sainz and his teammate Charles Leclerc finished in P2.
Following the race, Ferrari is only four points shy of Red Bull at the top of the championship, and the case is the same for Charles Leclerc chasing Max Verstappen.
The race proved to bring in hope for more competition during the remainder of the 2024 F1 season as well. This is not solely because of Verstappen's DNF. During the rest of the weekend as well, Ferrari was relatively close to the team, and with their new package planned for Imola later, the team might give RBR some competition at the front.
