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While Michael Andretti has made the most noise about entering a new team in F1, he is not the only person looking to do that. Hong Kong billionaire businessman Calvin Lo is also exploring plans to set up a Formula 1 team and hopes to enter the sport in 2026.
Unlike Andretti, however, Lo is open to working with either an existing team or creating an entirely new one. Given the hurdles Andretti has encountered in his attempts to start an all-American F1 team, it is unclear if Lo will face similar difficulties, if not more, in creating a brand new outfit.
Lo, however, isn't someone trying to capitalize on the recent boom in the sport. He has been a fan since the early days of Michael Schumacher's time with Scuderia Ferrari. He told PlanetF1:
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“I actually had no idea what Formula 1 or any motor racing was. In Hong Kong, we used to watch the Macau races so that was the most exposure I had to motor racing. And then I remember when I was in Singapore, on a business trip, turned on the TV randomly and it was F1.”
He added:
“Everyone was telling me this guy Schumacher is amazing and I was like ‘okay’. I just hooked onto it. The typical description of F1 is watching cars going around but there’s a lot of strategy, a lot of teamwork, not just one driver, one person doing that thing. So that got me hooked.”
Since then, Lohe has become a successful businessman and has amassed enough wealth to make him consider entering F1. 22 years since his first F1 experience, and with the necessary financial backing, Lo's entry could be a cakewalk — if other teams don't make him run through hoops. He said:
“I think it’s fair to say most boys growing up love cars in general. After watching for 20 years or so, seeing the evolution of the cars the technology, the rules… The past two years with COVID, there’s just a lot of opportunities and liquidity floating around."
"I feel that right now, with 2026, with all the rule changes and updates, there are opportunities and lots of resources that are not fully used within the F1 ecosystem. So I think right now is a good opportunity to take advantage of it.”
Lo even expressed his admiration for Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen recently, though he stopped short of naming them as the drivers he'd be interested in signing to his team.
Meet Calvin Lo, the billionaire eyeing entry into F1
Calvin Lo began his career in investing, later got involved with the family insurance business, and in 2014, he took over as the CEO of a large insurance company.
Interestingly, the billionaire reportedly initially chose to avoid the insurance industry in favor of finance. His company is said to be focused on life policies and associated insurance for ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
Lo was ranked by Forbes in 2019 as the 43rd richest person in Hong Kong with an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion. He is the chief executive of R.E Lee Octagon and oversees the biggest life insurance broker in the world, managing more than $8 billion in assets.
The Hong Kong businessman is not new to building and running a successful business. His company, R.E Lee Octagon, was established in Seattle in 1954 by American insurance entrepreneur Robert Earl Lee to conquer America’s mainstream insurance market.
Sensing an opportunity in the punitive inheritance taxes seen in postwar Japan, the company made its first international venture in the 1970s. In 2015, Lo’s mother Regina Lee acquired the company upon the passing of its founder and soon turned to Lo to run the company.
Under his stewardship, the company now has established bases in Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai, among others. Its annual revenue now totals more than $1 billion, with 60% coming from Asia.
“Highly aspirational” - Calvin Lo on his attempts to enter F1
Despite being a fan of the sport for more than two decades and under no shortage of finances, Calvin Lo knows that entering Formula 1 is no easy task. He told BBC Sport:
“Based on what I'm seeing right now, it's highly aspirational but it seems like it can be done if all the stars are aligned. Based on the timelines, the sooner the better, right? It seems even now is a very tight timeline just to put something on the grid by 2026.”
Unlike fellow billionaire Toto Wolff, who co-owns the Mercedes team as well as runs it as the team principal, Lo does not want to be involved in the day-to-day running of the prospective team.
The 46-year-old also knows that it is easier to fund a team and the real task lies in making it financially viable. He said:
"It's how long you can sustain it. In this world, finding liquidity for one or two years, relatively it's easy. But can you last for three years... five years? That's the part that the crunching of the numbers comes in."
He added:
"I look at it just like an investment. How long do I have to amortize that cost? At what year, at what date, do we need to inject funds if it does not hit certain targets? And, of course, the targets must be set realistically. You cannot just go in the first year and win everything. The numbers must be very conservatively managed. I think that's the tricky part."
