If Hong Kong-based billionaire Calvin Lo is going to publicly commit himself to Formula One , and there is plenty of evidence to suggest he is preparing to do so, it will not be on a whim or for the ego boost of walking down the pit lane as a team owner. As much as the man widely believed to be behind Dorilton Capital’s acquisition of Williams Racing is a big fan of the sport, any decision to increase his exposure will be “purely about the numbers”. That, and the potential to bring an F1 team to Asia, and ideally Hong Kong. If that ambition sounds familiar, it is because it is one shared with Panthera Team Asia who are hoping to join the grid in 2026. Panthera Team Asia target F1 spot by 2026, eye Zhou Guanyu for driver’s seat “Something that would cause me to think, yes, let’s do it, it would have to have, honestly, some Asian element,” Lo said. “Preferably closer to home, Hong Kong, China, but Asia. I think it has to start somewhere.” Which is not to say there isn’t already a significant F1 presence in Asia when it comes to races, with Shanghai, Singapore and Suzuka on the calendar, and drivers in China’s Zhou Guanyu and Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda. But while teams in the past, such as Lotus and Force India, have claimed an allegiance to the region none have actually been based there. Lo has already been heavily linked with Panthera, and while in an interview with the Post said starting a new team was “highly aspirational”, also acknowledged having people “working on the project for me”. “I think there are three ways to look at getting involved,” the 46-year-old said. “One is to participate in the F1 world by sponsoring, and I think that’s the easiest way to get in, two is to invest into an existing team, and three obviously to start a new team. “Whether owning a team is a good thing … I think it is a good time with the rule changes, with the audience dynamic, but the calculations of starting a team, there’s nothing about ego, from my point of view it’s purely numbers. It has to make business sense.” Owning a team, or being involved in a group that does, has long been seen as a status symbol by the world’s uber-rich, and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, who has famously avoided investing in sport, once compared it to collecting art. Lo, the CEO of RE Lee, the world’s largest life insurance broker, is acutely aware of the emotions that have driven the acquisition of franchises across all sports in the past, but believes the motivations for doing so now, especially in F1, have changed because the audience has changed. “Maybe previously it was pride, [someone] wanted to be seen in the pit lane, I don’t know, but you can see the [audience] dynamics have changed,” he said The sport’s interaction with a new generation, be that through social media, or the Drive to Survive series on Netflix, has boosted F1 in the public’s consciousness, and Lo believes that makes the “model of owning a team” different. That the younger fan base Lo talks about includes his own daughter, and the fact her school in Hong Kong has a project to design an F1 car, only reinforces his growing feeling the next generation is an untapped resource, especially in Asia. Panthera has hinted at starting an academy as part of its long-term plans for growth, with the potential to recruit everyone from designers to drivers within the region. While convinced Asia will be “a big source for talent” over the next decade, Lo, who started in finance before joining the family business which insures the world’s wealthiest people, also sees it as the sport’s next big consumer market. “In Asia, we’re talking about half the population of the world, so it really is untapped,” he said. “I think, for the F1 community, Europe, I understand, the US, I understand. It’s a big market with high purchasing power. “But I absolutely agree that Asia is the next big market, huge, and I know as a fact, many of my friends and clients they are also F1 enthusiasts, and they have resources to start tracks in their own countries, in the cities. “Now that Las Vegas is up and running, there are tracks in Bangkok, Jakarta, Seoul, there are all these possibilities that people should look into.” But entering F1 is not an easy process, “it’s fascinating, but I’m glad I don’t have to deal with all that stuff”, and bringing something new to the table has always been an essential ingredient of any bid, especially as the 10 teams presently involved are notoriously protective of their revenue streams. And as Lo has said many times, he is not going to get involved for altruistic reasons, or for the ego boost – there needs to be a “long-term plan before I feel comfortable convincing myself that I should commit my resources to it”. Ultimately any team looking for funding, or wanting to join the grid with his support, will need an Asian element to it, and the billionaire would be “very proud” if that involved the city he and his family call home. Lo though knows starting from scratch means lowering expectations at the start, which is why the thought of an academy providing Asia’s best and brightest with a route into F1 appeals. “All the talent now is all over Europe, where they are raised from a young age in aerodynamics,” he said. “It will take a long time for Hong Kong or even Asia to be on that level, so the next best thing would be something like an academy. There is so much talent in Hong Kong and Asia, there is just no way in [to the sport].” Officials have, however, opened the door to Panthera and the Michael Andretti-Cadillac group, with 2026 the soonest either could realistically join the sport. Again though, it is the long-term approach that Lo is interested in, be that in agreeing a deal with an engine supplier, finding a base, or having the wherewithal to survive beyond a couple of years. “It is something that must be thought out carefully, and even those I may link up with must look at this, not just from a pride thing, it has to financially make sense. “The easiest way would be to be a sponsor, but to me that’s not long-term enough. It’s just going there to have fun, it doesn’t hit that pride that I want for the region.”