Qatar Funding Authority has introduced it will likely be a ‘long-term investor and associate’ to Audi’s F1 staff from 2026.
The sovereign wealth fund of Qatar is buying a “important minority stake” in what is going to turn into Audi’s Components 1 works staff from 2026, in a deal introduced Friday earlier than the Qatar Grand Prix.
A joint assertion mentioned the Qatar Funding Authority shall be “a long-term investor and associate” and supply “a considerable capital injection” that can assist the staff develop its infrastructure.
The staff is at present competing as Sauber and shall be rebranded because the Audi works outfit for 2026 after it reached an settlement for a full takeover earlier this yr.
“This extra capital will speed up the staff’s progress and is yet one more milestone on our long-term technique,” Audi chief govt Gernot Dollner mentioned within the joint assertion.
Qatar Funding Authority has agreed to amass a big minority stake in Sauber, forward of the squad changing into Audi’s manufacturing unit staff in 2026 📝#F1 #QatarGPhttps://t.co/SNEfQnC7eB
— Components 1 (@F1) November 29, 2024
Qatar is already an investor within the Volkswagen Group, of which Audi is part. “QIA believes that Components 1 is a sport with important untapped funding potential,” QIA chief govt Mohammed Saif al-Sowaidi mentioned.
“The growing commercialisation {of professional} sports activities as an leisure providing globally, and the more and more international reputation of Components 1, has made for an thrilling alternative for our first main motorsports funding.”
Sauber is altering each its drivers for 2025, as Nico Hulkenberg and rookie Gabriel Bortoleto arrive to exchange Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.
