Frank Williams was a proud garage owner in Formula 1 throughout his life and was even the most successful with nine constructors’ titles. He kept his appointment calendar according to a simple structure: “For two hours on a Sunday it’s sport, and the rest of the time it’s a business.” How correct the thesis of the business formula is was massively underlined this week. First the US automobile giant General Motors announced the entry of the Cadillac racing team for 2026, then Audi sealed a strategic partnership on the sidelines of the penultimate World Cup round at the Losail International Circuit: with the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar.
The premier class of motorsport, whose boom currently appears unbroken, is worthwhile again, especially since the racing cars will be on the road with the promising hybrid drive and CO₂-neutral fuel from 2026 onwards. Big money and big companies are radically changing the face of Formula 1 – all that remains of pioneers like Williams is the name. Of the eleven future racing teams, more than half will have a direct factory connection. Attracted by the profit sharing, which for all racing teams combined has long since exceeded the billion mark every year.
:The royal family of motorsport is growing
Formula 1 is expanding its field of participants to eleven teams from 2026. The US brand Cadillac is new. This was preceded by a long controversy with the Andretti racing dynasty, which is now out and somehow still there.
Audi announced its intention to enter Formula 1 a good two years ago and thwarted its competitor Porsche in the Volkswagen Group’s internal race (project name “Speed”). The takeover of the Swiss Sauber racing team as the basis for Ingolstadt’s ambitions progressed somewhat more slowly than expected. The top personnel in the group changed, and the commission agents sent to the Zurich Oberland were divided.
Exit rumors and financial bottlenecks had to be denied again and again, at the beginning of September by CEO Gernot Döllner personally at the racetrack in Monza, when he had actually come to present a CEO in the form of former Ferrari man Mattia Binotto. Then the crisis in the German automotive industry worsened, Audi also slipped into the red in the third quarter and wants to close the plant in Brussels. The doubters about Formula 1 entry, which was also not without controversy internally, increased again.
At the beginning of 2025, the silent partner Qatar will officially come on board
The fact that Gernot Döllner traveled to a race track again on Friday, this time together with his finance director Jürgen Rittenberger, shows the dimension of the agreement with the Qataris. There is talk of a “significant minority stake”, with rumors of 30 percent shares for which there is a seat on the board of directors. And, depending on estimates, a subsidy of 300 to 400 million euros. Audi had already agreed on the possibility of refinancing its own billion-dollar commitment through investors during the takeover negotiations with the previous Sauber owner Finn Rausing, an heir to the Tetrapak Group. Originally, only 75 percent of Sauber was supposed to be bought from the Swede, but he apparently didn’t want to inject the same amount of money into the racing team, which is why Audi announced the complete takeover this March. This is scheduled to be completed at the beginning of 2025, when the silent partner Qatar will officially come on board.
Specifically, negotiations with the Qatar Investment Authority (QAI) began on November 29, 2023, when the guests visited the racing engine factory in Neuburg an der Donau. The financial relief therefore has nothing to do with the current headlines about VW, but it obviously has a calming effect both internally and externally. Discussions were also held with other potential donors, but Qatar was a logical choice; the state already owns 17 percent of the Volkswagen empire and is the third largest shareholder there.
The factory team will continue to be called Audi, and it is possible that a co-sponsor from the Gulf region will be named. There don’t seem to be any intentions for a complete sale at the moment; what was initially important to Gernot Döllner was the acute cash injection: “That will accelerate our growth.” Specifically: Sauber’s racing factory needs to be expanded, mainly significantly more staff are needed for the high-wage country of Switzerland . Audi governor Döllner also recognized: “The Formula 1 project is integral to Audi’s transformation story. You can’t build a future just by saving money. You have to invest too.”
A place in Formula 1 is still up for grabs – applicants are already gathering
The calculation could work out, also for Qatar. The development of Formula 1 on the one hand and the cost cap on the other are ensuring a huge financial boom. Racing teams like Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes are valued at more than three billion dollars. In the new framework agreement called Concorde Agreement The profit shares are likely to increase again. Applicants are already gathering for the twelfth and last available spot on the starting grid; it could be Toyota or one of the Korean automobile manufacturers.
The partners from the emirate therefore see “significant, untapped investment potential” in Formula 1. They want to use it to prepare for a future after fossil energy – and of course to gain image. Qatar is not alone in this. The neighboring country of Bahrain has controlled McLaren for years, and Saudi Arabia has the option of a share package in Aston Martin through its oil production company Aramco. The majority of racing teams also follow the investor model; at Alpine, sports greats such as Alexander Zverev and Patrick Mahomes are individual shareholders.
“This is good for the sport and also obvious,” says Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff about the financial structure at Audi, “an investment with real power.” The Austrian, who himself invested early and successfully in start-ups, sees it thus confirming the in-house model. Since 2020, one third of the Stuttgart racing team has been owned by Mercedes, the chemical company Ineos and Wolff. At around the same time, the Williams family business also got rid of its financial worries, but also control of the racing team. Since then, the traditional British racing team has belonged to the US investment company Dorilton Partners. Formula 1 is a money championship, even on Sundays.
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