F1 'feels pretty immune to Brexit impact' - says CEO Chase Carey

Several UK-based F1 teams have expressed concerns about the Brexit situation in recent months, especially regarding the impact of no-deal scenario.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said a no-deal outcome would be "a nightmare scenario that I don't want to even envisage".

This is because of the high number of EU citizens the teams employ, and because many import parts from the continent.

But Carey is confident that the F1 organisation will not suffer due to its global outlook and being less "commoditised".

"The economic issues, I do think we feel pretty immune to them," Carey said in a phone call with Wall Street analysts and investors.

"[On] Brexit, we've got some logistical issues, which are more sort of, if you end up with a no-deal Brexit, how do you get in and out of Britain with various equipment?

"But it's not a financial issue, it's more logistic, so we're contingency planning for things like that.

"While certainly being European-based, we're a global business, and we're unique.

"Those that probably feel it the most are ones that are more commoditised, and we're not. I think it also helps that we're largely a contract business.

"If you look at our revenue streams, there are [those that] are more ongoing - hospitality and things like that - but the vast majority of it is long-term, so parties are less consumed."

"We are certainly a high demographic sport, so I think that helps, we've got quality sponsors and the like," he said.

"It's the combination of unique events, long-term agreements, strong demographics in those that we deal with, and to some degree, an upside to our story.

"We really do feel that we've got some wind on our backs, and our focus in the last 24 months has really been about building interest in fans, creating momentum in the business, creating momentum in the sport, and, as we now move to monetise that, get the story told."

Carey said he anticipates that F1 revenues will rise in 2019: "We do expect growth across our primary areas - not equal growth, television growth will be the largest, and certainly growth in some of the secondary areas too, like hospitality and events.

"The race calendar is pretty stable, so the growth will be more modest there.

"In the sponsorship area we expect ongoing, solid growth - we've got a lot of interest."

Carey also acknowledged that actually signing off on major sponsorship deals has been challenging for Liberty.

"The sponsorship world takes longer to close the deals than we would have expected - a year or two," he said.

"You've got to create more tailored packages and sell it better and create the research to sell it.