Audi is on the verge of selling a shareholding in its Formula 1 Sauber team to Qatar – with an announcement potentially coming ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix.
Despite repeated denials, the first speculation about a potential deal was revealed by veteran F1 journalist Joe Saward, while Autosport sources have suggested, however, that the deal could go through as early as next week. There is also said to be the possibility of an investment that is much larger than originally anticipated.
It was only back in March this year after the start of the F1 season that Audi announced it would be buying 100% of the Sauber team from former owner Finn Rausing. This was for an estimated purchase price of around €650 million.
But the situation for the German manufacturer appears to have changed in recent weeks with Volkswagen AG, which also owns the Audi brand, in the throes of an economic crisis.
In Germany, there is talk of plant closures and the loss of up to 30,000 jobs. A crisis that is also leaving its mark on the Audi brand, which is facing similar challenges on the world market.
Audi and industry insiders are saying privately that it is currently very difficult to justify the expenditure of a large-scale F1 development programme with the group, which is necessary if the company wants to be competitive in the medium-to-long-term from 2026.
Audi has so far kept a low profile on the rumours of the Emirate of Qatar entering the fray. The official line is very clear: “As a matter of principle, we do not comment on speculation.”
When asked, the company merely referred to a statement made by CEO Gernot Dollner at the Italian Grand Prix.
There, Dollner said that now is “the right time” for Audi to enter F1: “The decision was well prepared two-and-a-half years ago and re-evaluated last year. We firmly believe that F1 and Audi are a perfect match. It's in line with our strategy, and while it's ambitious and will take time, it's also perfectly aligned with the way we're reinventing ourselves on the corporate side.”
But one thing is also clear: the timing is difficult to argue within the group that Audi may be able to invest less money given the crisis surrounding Volkswagen AG.
Fresh capital from Qatar would therefore be welcome, helping to push ahead with the development of the F1 team without the money having to leave Ingolstadt.
According to reports, the Qataris have indicated that they are willing to spend up to €1 billion on the project if the conditions are right.
Qatar would be a logical investor for Audi in any case because the state-owned airline Qatar Airways is already a key sponsor of F1, and Qatar has been showing an interest in the championship as a global platform for years.
Qatar is also already invested in Volkswagen AG with a 17% stake in the group. Qatar is the third-largest shareholder of the Volkswagen Group, after Porsche (53.3%) and the state of Lower Saxony (20%) via Qatar Holding LLC.
If Volkswagen AG ultimately benefits from an investment in the Audi F1 team, Qatar would also indirectly participate as one of the shareholders.
Qatar also occupies two of the 20 seats on the Volkswagen AG supervisory board, held by Dr Hessa Sultan Al Jaber, former Minister for Information and Communication Technology, and Mansoor Bin Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud, CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority.
Incidentally, the chairman of the supervisory board is Hans Dieter Potsch, and another member is the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony Stephan Weil.
Even though talks are already at an advanced stage, there is currently no clear information on exactly how Qatar intends to join Audi's F1 programme.
There are suggestions it could be a minority investment without significant changes to the team's public image.
But the investment could also be larger, with an adjustment to the team name, which would then include Qatar or a company from Qatar alongside Audi. That would probably be the case if Qatar was to take over more than 50% of the shares in Sauber AG and also buy the engine plant in Neuburg.
In any case, the idea of bringing a new investor on board with Qatar was not part of the vision for the Audi F1 programme from the outset, but has been born out of an economic crisis.
And it is possibly also due to the fact that the two key figures who were largely responsible for initiating the F1 entry are no longer with Audi.
One of them was Markus Duesmann, who was considered an ardent supporter of F1, was dismissed as Audi CEO in the summer of 2023. The other was Oliver Hoffmann, who originally oversaw the F1 entry as Audi's board member for research and development, but also left in July 2024.
Duesmann's successor Gernot Dollner later committed to F1 in principle, after an evaluation phase lasting several months.
However, he is said to be less willing to compromise when it comes to subordinating other divisions to help success in F1 and make major investments.
If it comes to a sale of shares, this would not be a new model in F1, given Mercedes is only one-third owned by the Mercedes group, with the other two-thirds controlled by Toto Wolff and the chemical group INEOS.
