When we talk about private equity involvement in professional sports, it's almost always tied to team ownership.

• But with F1, the relationship is deeper.

The big picture: Private equity-backed companies play a significant role in the F1 supply chain. For example:

• Motion Applied: British maker of the standard electronic control unit for every F1 car. Owned by Greybull Capital.
• VI-grade: German developer of driving simulators and simulation software that's used by F1 and other motorsport teams. Owned by KKR portfolio company Spectris, and previously by The Riverside Company.
• Dynisma: Another driver-in-the-loop simulation leader, with backing from firms like Dolphin Capital.
• Xtrac: British maker of transmissions for pro motorsports, known for selling gearbox components to F1 teams. Middleground Capital bought the company in 2023 from Inflexion Private Equity.

Yes, but: Private equity has plenty of room for expansion, as publicly traded industrial manufacturers like Brembo (brakes), Pirelli (tires) and Hexcel (carbon fiber) continue to control a significant share of the F1 supply chain.

The bottom line: Private equity investors seem to live in the paddocks during these races, soaking up the luxe networking opportunities. The more familiar they become with F1, the more likely they are to buy in.

Private equity also has more conventional ties to F1.

Ownership: Dorilton Capital owns Williams Racing, and has no plans to sell.

• Arctos Partners has a minority piece of Aston Martin.
• Otro Capital-led group owns a 24% stake in Alpine Racing, but is seeking a sale. Majority owner Renault has deemed the Otro partnership "not successful," but Otro isn't taking the bait — instead declining to comment.

Sponsorship: Carlyle has a partnership with Red Bull Racing, including branding on its cars.

• It even parked a Red Bull car outside the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills during the Milken Global Conference, which was impossible to miss.

Legacy: There's also the historical ownership angle: CVC Capital Partners controlled F1 for over a decade before selling to Liberty Media.

Apple has yet to release any viewership data for any of the nine F1 race weekends it's aired this year, so there's no way to independently verify how its new distribution deal is going.

Why it matters: The media industry has struggled to measure live sporting events on streaming platforms.

• Particularly in a unified manner that encompasses overseas viewership and engagement with other fan content, like F1's alt race broadcasts for kids.

Zoom in: F1 executives have conviction that the Apple deal is a boon for the sport, despite having little data.

• "I think what Apple will bring to the broader fandom is the fact that they've got all their platforms — all the opportunities showing up in fans' world, across their music, across news — in a way that's never been done before," McLaren Racing chief marketing officer Louise McEwen told Axios at Cannes Lions. "We know that fandom doesn't live in a silo."

By the numbers: Apple TV's F1 deal is worth between $140 million and $160 million per year, notably higher than the roughly $90 million per year ESPN paid under its last F1 contract that concluded in 2025.

• F1 saw a record 1.3 million viewers per race last year on ESPN.

Between the lines: Like Netflix, which simulcast the Canadian Grand Prix in May, Apple TV has focused its live sports ambitions on airing select premium events that it hopes will expand its audiences.

• It struck its first major live sports deal in 2022 with Major League Baseball to air Friday Night Baseball doubleheaders, and signed a 10-year global partnership with Major League Soccer to exclusively stream every MLS match in the U.S. starting in 2023.

A dispatch from Darren Cox of The Race Media:

Formula 1 for years has looked enviously at European soccer, but now the best practices flow is flipping.

• That was the message last month at Cannes Lions from Peter Kenyon, a former Premier League exec who now leads Williams' commercial efforts.

What he's saying: "When I was in football, we looked at Formula 1 and thought, 'What are they doing?' Then Liberty reignited it. Netflix has brought in new audiences, 18-to-35-year-olds, 50% female. Those are really important shifts."

Catch up quick: Kenyon spent years building commercial operations in football at Manchester United and Chelsea before arriving at Williams to rebuild one of Formula 1's most iconic brands. Seemingly from the ground up.

• "When I joined Manchester United, it was in exactly the same place," he says. "The commercial aspects were underutilized."

Behind the scenes: Peter and his peers were in great demand at Cannes, where all the big media brands and agencies jostled for relevance.

• Go deeper.

Luxury brands are moving beyond traditional F1 sponsorships to owning major pieces of the fan experience.

State of play: Luxury companies tend to invest heavily in hospitality and VIP events that help race weekends go viral online.

Zoom in: Swiss watchmakers, automotive companies and beverage companies have been investing in F1 for decades, but now fashion houses like LVMH, Tag Heuer and Gucci are in the paddock.

What to watch: As drivers develop bigger followings online, luxury companies are investing more in outfitting the drivers themselves.

• Case in point: F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, a brand ambassador for Dior, Tommy Hilfiger and others, co-chaired last year's Met Gala.