Hong Kong billionaire Calvin Lo is exploring the possibility of forming a new team to enter Formula 1 in 2026.
Lo, the CEO of RE Lee, the world largest life insurance broker with $8 billion in assets under management, is no stranger to F1 insiders.
The very low-profile Hong Kong-based entrepreneur has often been cited as the main funder behind Dorilton Capital's acquisition of Williams Racing in the summer of 2020.
Lo has never denied nor confirmed the speculation but has admitted to having "some sort of exposure" to Williams through Dorilton, although he has always declined to offer more detail on the level of his investment.
Last August, speaking to Reuters, Lo said that Formula 1's remarkable growth in the past few years had caught Asian investors' attention, and that investment opportunities in the sport were being considered.
Several months on, Lo is now pondering a full blown effort to put a new F1 team on the grid by 2026, when F1 switches to its new power unit regulations.
Read also:
"We are still exploring what capacity I would be involved in F1," he told Daily Star Sport. "I am not smart enough to run the team! Whatever involvement I would have, it would be financial.
“In the last few years, I’ve been approached by many players in the F1 world, from teams to highly aspirational potential team owners or investors.
"We’ve been looking at a current team and that’s how the idea of starting a new team came about.
"There are a lot of opportunities right now. I believe we’re going into a new era of a younger audience, a newer fanbase. Accessibility seems easier than before."
Michael Andretti's trials and tribulations to join F1 have been well chronicled.
The American is still pressing on with his plans to field a Grand Prix team at some point in the future, but the push-back by the sport's main incumbents against the Andretti family's well-funded efforts should perhaps alert Lo to the massive challenge that sits ahead.
Calvin Lo with Hong Kong actress Micelle Yeoh, the wife of former FIA president Jean Todt.
The Hong Kong businessman has yet to make a compelling case of his own for F1 accepting his entry into its elite club. But Lo is convinced that expanding the grid will lead to bigger individual portions of the sport's revenue for existing teams.
"Whoever comes in, in whatever capacity, has to ensure that [financial] pie gets even bigger," contends Lo.
"I understand the current teams’ reluctance. If it all comes out of the same pot, what’s the point?
"But if we could somehow expand that pie a little bigger, everyone could benefit, the whole grid could benefit.
"That’s where the ‘how’ comes in. How are me and my team able to tell the current teams that our involvement, in whatever capacity, will increase that viewership, that fanbase?
"I think there is an opportunity for someone who’s not in the motor racing world to come in, to bring in new ideas, new perspectives. I think it’s exciting if someone from the outside comes in.
"The financial part is a huge commitment. But assuming that’s done, we could be in for a pleasant surprise in how everyone could benefit."
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
