Motor racing-Audi's deal with Qatar deepens Formula One's Gulf ties
By Alan Baldwin
DOHA, Nov 29 (Reuters) -Qatar's long-term investment in the future Audi Formula One team, announced at the country's grand prix on Friday, brings obvious benefits for both and increases the Gulf region's influence in the sport.
Four of the current 24 races are in the Middle East -- more than held in the United States -- with Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia paying hefty hosting fees to Liberty Media-owned Formula One.
Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat owns the McLaren Group while sportscar maker Aston Martin is part-owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) with energy giant Aramco the team's title sponsor.
Qatar Airways and Aramco are also among 10 global partners of the sport and the governing FIA is headed by Emirati Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
For Volkswagen-owned Audi, who have taken over the Swiss-based Sauber team, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA)'s agreement to take a significant minority stake brings in a partner with estimated assets of some $510 billion.
That may reduce some of the political heat at a time when the German carmaker's parent is threatening to close plants in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history.
Audi chief executive Gernot Dollner denied that was a driving force and said the search for a strategic partner started a year ago with QIA, which shared the same long-term goals.
"When I stepped in as CEO of Audi, we had a review of the project and the question was how to proceed," he told reporters in Doha, giving no figures for a deal that one source put at almost a third of the company.
QIA has a 17% stake in Volkswagen.
"Part of the decision to go really all in and continue this program was that we have to think bigger, and to think bigger in the context of a complex transition phase the whole industry is in," said Dollner.
"We have a business plan...and this Formula One project is an integral part of the transformation story of Audi."
"You can't build a future by only saving money, you have to invest and we have to transform the company, the Audi company, and we believe that the Formula One project is integral part of that transition of Audi."
Sauber have yet to score a point this season and new boss Mattia Binotto, who previously ran Ferrari, will still have his work cut out.
"We are all very pleased as team members of today's partnership because that gives certainly a long-term view and it's a partnership of passion," he said.
"I'm very optimistic as well, optimistic because everything is step by step (being) put in place and all the choices, the right choices, are somehow being taken."
Qatar Sports Investments, a state-backed body founded by the emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, also owns France's Ligue 1 club Paris St Germain.
Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis
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