Audi have sold a minority stake in their Formula 1 Project to the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). The deal was confirmed on Friday, fittingly during FP1 at the Qatar Grand Prix.
It’s been known for a while that the Qataris were buying a stake in Audi. The German manufacturer will take over from the Sauber team in 2026.
The QIA is already a major investor in Volkswagen, Audi’s parent company. National airline Qatar Airways are the title sponsor for the Austrian, British and Azerbaijan Grands Prix in addition to their home race.
But this is their most significant step into the world of F1 yet. Audi retain control of their team but have sold around 30% of it.
While the process began in 2023, the news comes amid a major crisis for VW. The German giants have had to close three of their factories.
Audi have faced a ‘terrible dilemma’ amid extensive layoffs. Optically, the injection of cash helps them justify the continuation of the F1 project.
Audi salary costs could have led to Formula 1 factory closure
The Qatar deal will also help Audi to pay their staff. According to The Race, the FIA feared that they would have to close the Sauber facility in Hinwil.
This is because salary costs are considerably higher in Switzerland. Without intervention from the governing body, this may have led to a destabilising relocation.
The FIA have raised the cost cap for Audi to account for the inherent disadvantage. While this won’t be popular with other teams, they’ll see it as a necessity.
Now the QIA will take on some of the responsibility for ‘all running costs’. This will ‘ease pressure’, both internally and externally.
Audi’s QIA deal may not solve one major problem with 2026 car
The Audi team hasn’t so much as turned a wheel, but 2024 has still been a terrible year. The Sauber team hasn’t scored a single point, condemning them to an almost certain 10th-place finish.
New signings Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto will be braced for some initial pain in 2025. Of course, 2026 brings regulation changes and a chance to jump up the order, but that doesn’t wipe away the misery of this season.
Indeed, some of the Sauber employees who will work for Audi will be extremely low on morale by now. And while all this is going on track, there has been upheaval behind the scenes, with Andreas Seidl and Oliver Hoffman both losing their jobs before the appointment of Mattia Binotto.
Predictably, this may take a competitive toll. Audi’s 2026 engine is behind schedule already, and not even the wealthy Qataris may be able to remedy that issue.
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