Audi is on the verge of promoting a shareholding in its System 1 Sauber staff to Qatar – with an announcement probably coming forward of the Qatar Grand Prix.
Regardless of repeated denials, the primary hypothesis a few potential deal was revealed by veteran F1 journalist Joe Saward, whereas Motorsport.com sources have recommended, nonetheless, that the deal may undergo as early as subsequent week. There’s additionally mentioned to be the potential of an funding that’s a lot bigger than initially anticipated.
It was solely again in March this yr after the beginning of the F1 season that Audi introduced it will be shopping for 100% of the Sauber staff from former proprietor Finn Rausing. This was for an estimated buy value of round €650 million.
However the scenario for the German producer seems to have modified in current weeks with Volkswagen AG, which additionally owns the Audi model, within the throes of an financial disaster.
In Germany, there may be speak of plant closures and the lack of as much as 30,000 jobs. A disaster that can also be leaving its mark on the Audi model, which is dealing with comparable challenges on the world market.
Audi and business insiders are saying privately that it’s presently very tough to justify the expenditure of a large-scale F1 improvement programme with the group, which is critical if the corporate desires to be aggressive within the medium-to-long-term from 2026.
Audi has thus far saved a low profile on the rumours of the Emirate of Qatar getting into the fray. The official line may be very clear: “As a matter of precept, we don’t touch upon hypothesis.”
Audi CEO Gernot Dollner and Mattia Binotto, CEO and CTO, Stake F1 Group KICK Sauber
Photograph by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Photographs
When requested, the corporate merely referred to a press release made by CEO Gernot Dollner on the Italian Grand Prix.
There, Dollner mentioned that now’s “the best time” for Audi to enter F1: “The choice was nicely ready two-and-a-half years in the past and re-evaluated final yr. We firmly consider that F1 and Audi are an ideal match. It is consistent with our technique, and whereas it is formidable and can take time, it is also completely aligned with the best way we’re reinventing ourselves on the company facet.”
However one factor can also be clear: the timing is tough to argue inside the group that Audi could possibly make investments much less cash given the disaster surrounding Volkswagen AG.
Contemporary capital from Qatar would due to this fact be welcome, serving to to push forward with the event of the F1 staff with out the cash having to go away Ingolstadt.
In line with studies, the Qataris have indicated that they’re prepared to spend as much as €1 billion on the mission if the circumstances are proper.
Qatar could be a logical investor for Audi in any case as a result of the state-owned airline Qatar Airways is already a key sponsor of F1, and Qatar has been displaying an curiosity within the championship as a worldwide platform for years.
Qatar can also be already invested in Volkswagen AG with a 17% stake within the group. Qatar is the third-largest shareholder of the Volkswagen Group, after Porsche (53.3%) and the state of Decrease Saxony (20%) by way of Qatar Holding LLC.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG
Photograph by: Erik Junius
If Volkswagen AG in the end advantages from an funding within the Audi F1 staff, Qatar would additionally not directly take part as one of many shareholders.
Qatar additionally occupies two of the 20 seats on the Volkswagen AG supervisory board, held by Dr Hessa Sultan Al Jaber, former Minister for Data and Communication Know-how, and Mansoor Bin Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud, CEO of the Qatar Funding Authority.
By the way, the chairman of the supervisory board is Hans Dieter Potsch, and one other member is the Prime Minister of Decrease Saxony Stephan Weil.
Regardless that talks are already at a complicated stage, there may be presently no clear data on precisely how Qatar intends to affix Audi’s F1 programme.
There are solutions it may very well be a minority funding with out important adjustments to the staff’s public picture.
However the funding is also bigger, with an adjustment to the staff title, which might then embody Qatar or an organization from Qatar alongside Audi. That may in all probability be the case if Qatar was to take over greater than 50% of the shares in Sauber AG and likewise purchase the engine plant in Neuburg.
In any case, the concept of bringing a brand new investor on board with Qatar was not a part of the imaginative and prescient for the Audi F1 programme from the outset, however has been born out of an financial disaster.
Audi and BP emblem
Photograph by: Audi
And it’s probably additionally on account of the truth that the 2 key figures who have been largely chargeable for initiating the F1 entry are now not with Audi.
One in every of them was Markus Duesmann, who was thought of an ardent supporter of F1, was dismissed as Audi CEO in the summertime of 2023. The opposite was Oliver Hoffmann, who initially oversaw the F1 entry as Audi’s board member for analysis and improvement, but additionally left in July 2024.
Duesmann’s successor Gernot Dollner later dedicated to F1 in precept, after an analysis part lasting a number of months.
Nonetheless, he’s mentioned to be much less prepared to compromise with regards to subordinating different divisions to assist success in F1 and make main investments.
If it involves a sale of shares, this could not be a brand new mannequin in F1, given Mercedes is barely one-third owned by the Mercedes group, with the opposite two-thirds managed by Toto Wolff and the chemical group INEOS.