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Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has agreed to buy roughly 30 per cent of the Audi Formula One racing team, as institutional investors continue to pile money into the global racing series and wider sport.
The Qatar Investment Authority would get the minority stake in exchange for a capital injection worth “hundreds of millions” of dollars, said a person familiar with the deal.
QIA controls 17 per cent of the voting rights in Audi’s parent company, Volkswagen. While the Gulf fund has not invested in automotive racing previously, it has gained increasing interest in the business of sports, the person added.
The deal is expected to be announced on Friday, the first day of the Qatar Grand Prix weekend to be held at Doha’s Lusail International Circuit.
The planned purchase would increase the Gulf’s presence in the sport. Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia also host grands prix events. Qatar Airways is F1’s global airline partner following a deal last year, while Doha joined the calendar in 2021.
Last year QIA bought a minority stake in Washington-based company Monumental Sports and Entertainment, which owns franchises and venues that include the Washington Wizards basketball team.
Audi agreed in March to buy 100 per cent of the Sauber Group. It will join the F1 tour as an engine supplier in 2026, when a suite of new regulations is set to revamp the event, with all-new cars and engines running on sustainable fuels and a greater electrical component.
Switzerland-based Sauber, which previously competed with Alfa Romeo, signed as Audi’s “works team” in 2022. Sauber is making Audi’s race cars, as well as handling race operations.
But Sauber is in 10th place in the constructors’ standings, sitting at the bottom of the table with zero points. QIA’s investment in Audi’s F1 team was aimed at boosting engineering and technology of the car, the person familiar with the deal said.
Sauber and QIA declined to comment. Audi did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sky News first reported the news.
QIA’s move follows a number of major investments in F1. Liberty Media, the US media group controlled by tycoon John Malone, acquired F1 itself in an $8bn deal in 2017, in what was a new era following decades of domination by former supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
Liberty Media was behind the Drive to Survive Netflix series that introduced F1 to new fans, attracting younger audiences to the sport.
Under US ownership, F1 has embraced social media and focused on big personalities, including drivers such as Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.
Liberty Media was also instrumental in introducing new regulations that limited how much teams could spend on developing their cars. The budget cap has helped to attract new investors, and helped F1 teams to shed their reputation for being money pits.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos owns a third of the Mercedes F1 team, MSP Sports Capital is among the investors with a minority stake in McLaren Racing, and private equity group Arctos Partners owns a minority stake in Aston Martin F1. RedBird Capital Partners and spin-off Otro Capital were among the buyers of a 24 per cent stake in Alpine last year.
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