Formula 1 today (Thursday) announced that Murray Barnett will step down from his role as director of sponsorship and commercial partnerships to “pursue wider commercial opportunities”.

He will leave at the end of this week and will be replaced by Ben Pincus, who joins from his role as sponsorship director at beer brand (and Formula 1 sponsor) Heineken. Pincus has been named director of commercial partnerships.

On the appointment of Pincus, Formula 1 said: “Ben brings a wealth of experience of successfully marrying global brands to international sponsorships within Formula 1, having led several agencies in London, Frankfurt and Singapore that have been responsible for introducing Schweppes, Canon, Sun Microsystems and SAP to the sport.

“In addition to his Formula 1 partnership experience, Ben previously ran sponsorships in European football, international golf, tennis and sailing for Visa, Coca-Cola, Sony PlayStation and Heineken.”

Formerly at World Rugby, Barnett (pictured) joined Formula 1 in April 2017 following Liberty Media’s acquisition of the sport in January that year with the responsibility for building the sport’s global sponsor sales division and targeting new commercial opportunities across all platforms.

Formula 1 said: “Under his leadership, the partnerships team have successfully brought new partners to the business, including Petronas, New Balance, AWS, Carbon Champagne, Cyber 1, Liqui Moly, Marelli, Dubai Expo 2020 and 188 Bet as well as renewing Formula 1’s Global Partnerships with Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Pirelli in addition to extending the partnership with DHL.

“Furthermore, there are a number of exciting developments in F1 partnerships to be announced in the near future that Murray and his team have been working on in recent months.”

Chase Carey, chairman and chief executive of Formula 1, said: “(Murray) joined us right at the start of our Formula 1 journey in 2017 and has been a big part of the team that has transformed Formula 1 into a leading global media and entertainment brand. He has built a focused and talented team that will continue to drive us forward as a business and I want to wish him well as he moves on to new challenges.”

Barnett spent nearly 12 years at international pay-television broadcaster ESPN, laterally as vice-president of sports channels and syndication, before becoming World Rugby’s head of broadcast, commercial and marketing in 2013.

Meanwhile, Formula 1 has reversed a loss of $68m (€62.1m) in 2018 to post a profit of $17m in 2019, while the motor-racing championship also registered a significant increase in revenue.

The figures were reported in Liberty Media’s fourth quarter and full-year financial report, with Greg Maffei, president and chief executive of F1’s parent company, stating Formula 1 had produced “exceptional results”.

F1’s reversal in fortunes for its full-year profit came on top of its fourth-quarter loss reducing from $12m to $6m year-on-year. Revenue for the fourth quarter rose by nine per cent to $523m, with full-year revenue increasing by 11 per cent from $1.83bn to $2.02bn.

This increase in revenue meant the share of income paid out to the sport’s ten teams rose from $913m to $1.012bn, having steadily fallen over recent years. This comes with F1 engaged in talks with the teams over a new Concorde Agreement, the document which divides up the commercial revenues of the sport, from the 2021 season onwards.

F1 is on the brink of potentially seismic changes with Formula 1 and the International Automobile Federation (FIA) currently trying to drive through new regulations unveiled in October that will seek to overhaul the championship from the 2021 season, headlined by the introduction of the sport’s first cost cap.

Formula 1 is part of the overarching Formula One Group, which also includes Liberty Media’s interest in Live Nation, minority equity investments and intergroup interests in the Braves Group which owns Major League Baseball franchise the Atlanta Braves and Liberty SiriusXM Group. These additional entities saw Formula One Group as a whole register a loss of $35m for 2019, down from $110m in 2018.

Primary Formula 1 revenue represents the majority of the series’ revenue and is derived from race promotion fees, broadcast rights fees and advertising and sponsorship fees. For the year ended December 31, 2019, these revenue streams comprised 30 per cent, 38 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, of total F1 revenue.

Liberty said broadcast revenue increased in the fourth quarter and full year due to contractual rate increases, partially offset by the impact of weaker foreign exchange rates. Advertising and sponsorship revenue was relatively flat in the fourth quarter, and advertising and sponsorship revenue grew in the full year due to revenue from new sponsorship agreements. Growth in these revenue streams was partially offset by a decline in race promotion revenue in both the fourth quarter and full year.

Liberty said the fourth quarter decline in race promotion revenue was primarily due to the renewal terms of one contract, with the full year decline driven by the impact of renewal terms of two contracts and weaker prevailing foreign exchange rates.

Other F1 revenue increased in the fourth quarter and full year driven by increases in digital media revenue, higher Paddock Club attendance, increased revenue from other event-based activities and higher sales of equipment, parts and maintenance to F2 and F3 teams.

Commenting on the results, Carey said: “Formula 1 continues to benefit from the investments made in the business over the past few years. We see this in the strong financial results, viewership, attendance and engagement.

“2020 marks the 70th anniversary of the sport, which will provide further momentum. We are excited to welcome two new grands prix to the calendar in Vietnam and the Netherlands and look forward to the debut of the second season of the Netflix series ‘Formula 1: Drive to Survive’ on February 28.”