Despite all denials, the German automobile manufacturer Audi could now sell its factory program for Formula 1 that was planned for 2026. Or at least parts of it. Corresponding media reports have now been condensed through research by Motorsport-Total.com.
The buyer could therefore be the Arab Emirate of Qatar. Formula 1 journalist Joe Saward was the first to report on this on October 30th. He wrote at the time: “I expect some sort of takeover of Sauber by a Qatari company and I would suspect that the best time to announce this would be in Doha in a few weeks.” So around the Qatar Grand Prix on December 1st, 2024.
Saward’s report initially did not receive much attention in the international media, but has been picked up by various other platforms in the last few days. Tenor: Audi could sell minority shares to generate fresh capital to build the team.
According to information from “Motorsport-Total.com”, the deal could happen even faster and be finalized as early as next week. And an investment that is much larger than described in various media reports should at least be a possibility.
Audi & Qatar: The history of the deal
Audi only announced in March 2024 that it would buy not just 75, but 100 percent of the Hinwil racing team from the Swedish Sauber owner Finn Rausing. For a purchase price estimated at around 650 million euros. In times when many investors want to get into Formula 1, a relatively low entry price.
But for a few weeks now, Volkswagen AG, which also owns the Audi brand, has been hit by an economic crisis. In Germany there is talk of factory closures and the reduction of up to 30,000 jobs. A crisis that has not left its mark on the Audi brand, which is faced with very similar challenges on the global market.
Audi and industry experts say behind closed doors that it is currently very difficult within the company to finance on a large scale the development program in Formula 1, which is absolutely necessary if you want to be competitive in the medium to long term from 2026. Because the capital is actually needed more urgently elsewhere.
What Audi officially says about the rumors
Audi is officially keeping a low profile on the rumors about the Emirate of Qatar’s entry (“We generally do not comment on speculation”). Upon request, reference is only made to a statement by CEO Gernot Döllner on the sidelines of the Italian Grand Prix in Monza 2024. There Döllner said that now was “the right time” for Audi to enter Formula 1.
“The decision was well prepared two and a half years ago and reassessed last year. We firmly believe that Formula 1 and Audi are a perfect fit. It is in line with our strategy and although it is ambitious and will take time, it fits “It also fits perfectly with the way we are reinventing ourselves on the corporate side.”
But it is also clear that the time to argue within the group that Audi may be able to invest less money in individual series series that urgently need to be refreshed in order to remain competitive on the global market is difficult given the crisis surrounding Volkswagen AG.
Fresh capital would come from Qatar, which would help advance the development of the Formula 1 team without the money having to flow out of Ingolstadt, at just the right time. According to reports, the Qataris have signaled that they would like to spend up to one billion euros if the general conditions are right for them.
Why joining Qatar makes sense
Qatar would definitely be a logical investor for Audi. Firstly, because the national airline Qatar Airways is already one of the most important series sponsors of Formula 1 and Qatar has shown interest in Formula 1 as a global platform for years. And secondly, because Qatar is already invested in Volkswagen AG. With 17 percent of the entire group.
Qatar, through Qatar Holding LLC, is the third largest shareholder in the Volkswagen Group, after Porsche (53.3 percent) and the state of Lower Saxony (20 percent). If Volkswagen AG ultimately also benefits from an investment in the Audi Formula 1 team, Qatar would also indirectly participate as one of the shareholders.
Qatar also occupies two of the 20 seats on the all-important supervisory board of Volkswagen AG. Specifically by Dr. Hessa Sultan Al Jaber, former Minister of Information and Communications Technology, and Mansoor Bin Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud, CEO of Qatar Investment Authority. Incidentally, the chairman of the supervisory board is the Austrian Hans Dieter Pötsch, another member is the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony Stephan Weil.
Is Qatar becoming much bigger than everyone thinks?
Even if the discussions are already advanced, there is currently no clear information about how exactly Qatar wants to join Audi’s Formula 1 program. Other media outlets report minority involvement without any significant change in the team’s public appearance.
But the investment could possibly be larger, with an adjustment to the team name, which would then include Qatar or a company from Qatar in addition to Audi. That would probably be the case if Qatar took over more than 50 percent of the shares in Sauber AG and also bought the engine location in Neuburg.
According to Ralf Schumacher, “a lot is happening at Audi right now.” The Formula 1 expert recently said in an interview with Sky: “Due to the group’s economic situation, a large part of the team seems to have already been sold to Qatar.” And: “I’m still excited to see what else happens with Audi.”
In any case, the idea of bringing Qatar on board as a new investor was not part of the vision for the Audi Formula 1 program from the start, but was born out of the economic crisis. And it may also be due to the fact that the two men who were instrumental in initiating the entry into Formula 1 are no longer at Audi.
On the one hand, there was Markus Duesmann, who was considered an ardent Formula 1 supporter and was removed as Audi CEO in the summer of 2023. And on the other hand, Oliver Hofmann, who originally accompanied the entry into Formula 1 as Audi’s board member for research and development and also had to leave in July 2024. With that, the two biggest drivers of the program were gone.
Audi and Formula 1: How it started
Duesmann and Hoffmann joined a working group within the Volkswagen Group in 2020 under the code name “Speed”, which at the time comprised six people (three each from Audi and Porsche, including the two brand CEOs). At least that’s what it says in the new Formula 1 book Grand Prix Stories – Behind the scenes of Formula 1.
The book literally says: “In October 2020, the first working documents and presentation slides for the ‘Speed’ project were created internally. The members of the small group met at irregular intervals, approximately every six weeks.”
Afterwards, “under strict secrecy, a meeting room was rented at Munich Airport. Red Bull sent Helmut Marko and Gerhard Berger, a long-time friend and unofficial advisor to CEO Dietrich Mateschitz, to the meeting. Audi showed up with Oliver Hoffmann and Julius Seebach. And Porsche with Fritz Enzinger.”
Both Audi and Porsche were interested in a partnership with Red Bull at the time. The decision that Red Bull would only work with Porsche was said to have been made by Dietrich Mateschitz himself after the Munich meeting.
Audi then went on a “bride show” and flirted with McLaren and Aston Martin after Red Bull, but ultimately ended up with Sauber. Because of the Hinwil location in Switzerland and the very high personnel costs there, a step that is still being questioned by the more critical voices within Audi.
Duesmann’s successor Gernot Döllner later, after an evaluation phase lasting several months, also committed himself to Formula 1 in principle – but is said to be less willing to compromise when it comes to subordinating other company divisions to success in Formula 1 and making large investments there .
If there were to be a sale of shares, it would certainly not be a new model in Formula 1. Even Mercedes, the most successful team of the past decade, only owns a third of the Mercedes Group. The other two thirds of shares are controlled by Toto Wolff and the chemical company INEOS.
Source: www.sport.de
