Audi's commitment to Formula 1 was made clear last year when it bought a minority stake of the Sauber F1 team in January 2023.
But the team just upped their commitment to the sport to maximum level.
The Volkswagen luxury brand announced on Friday, Mar. 8 that it is going to take a 100% stake in the Sauber Group. The company was originally expected to take up to a 70% of Sauber, but its new CEO Gernot Döllner added the final 30% stake, which was originally reported by Bloomberg.
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Through the deal, Audi intends to have the Audi F1 team on the Formula 1 grid by 2026.
"The Members of the Supervisory Boards of AUDI AG and Volkswagen AG have now decided to strengthen the commitment to Formula 1 and accelerate the preparations for the start of the 2026 season," the company's press release said.
The growing popularity of Formula 1 around the world, driven by the acquisition of the motorsport league by Liberty Media in 2017 and the massive success of the Netflix docuseries "Formula 1: Drive to Survive" has created mass interest from different sectors.
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Alpine F1 Team sold about $210 million in ownership stake last year to a slew of big name actors and athletes that include Ryan Reynolds, Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, and Rory McIlroy.
The Aston Martin F1 Team, owned by Lawrence Stroll, also sold a stake in November to private equity firm Arctos Partners, that valued the team at nearly $1.3 billion.
Team valuations in the sport have skyrocketed, with Forbes seeing a near 300% increase in the average valuation of F1 teams in a list published in July 2023 versus when Forbes last valued the teams in 2019.
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