Did Audi Actually Buy McLaren? - [ Rumour Round-Up ]

Hey everyone, welcome to another edition of “Rumour Round-Up” and as with the others, all the stories contained within this are to be taken with a grain of salt and haven’t been officially substantiated but are things that are being talked about in the world of F1 that may be interesting, could turn out to be true, or simply plain wrong. Without further delay, here is Rumour Roundup…

A lot of rumors have been circulating for quite some time regarding new entrants in Formula 1 and one name that keeps popping up is Audi. They were allegedly looking to enter F1 by buying an existing team and the latest rumors suggest that they may have already bought out McLaren

0:00 - Has Audi Really Bought Out McLaren?
1:55 - Rapid Rumours

I'm your host Dillon Shelley and first up on Rumour Roundup:

Has Audi Really Bought Out McLaren?

A report was earlier published by Autocar UK in which they suggested that their source had confirmed that Audi had taken over McLaren after a buyout

It was suggested that McLaren allegedly found themselves in a precarious condition from a financial standpoint despite getting an influx of capital this year

If this rumor was to be true then Audi and Volkswagen, which is the parent company that owns Audi, would have had a direct point of entry into F1

This rumor further gained traction when an Audi spokesperson responded to the report by Autocar UK

“As part of our strategic considerations, we are constantly looking at various cooperation ideas” [Reuters]

Soon after though, McLaren Group released the following statement

“McLaren Group is aware of a news media report stating it has been sold to Audi. This is wholly inaccurate and McLaren is seeking to have the story removed”

“McLaren’s technology strategy has always involved ongoing discussions and collaboration with relevant partners and suppliers, including other carmakers, however, there has been no change in the ownership structure of the McLaren Group”

Rapid Rumors

Guanyu Zhou has allegedly already signed with Alfa Romeo to replace Antonio Giovinazzi for next season [Formula News Live]

Apparently, Alfa Romeo car dealerships in China, the country from where Zhou hails, have already posted congratulatory messages for him

Supposedly, the only reason why Giovinazzi has been at Alfa Romeo for so long is because of Ferrari’s influence on the matter which will cease to exist next year [Beyond The Flag]

Alpine’s race director Davide Brivio is supposedly unhappy with his role in the team and he is looking to go back to MotoGP [Autohebdo]

This rumor was given further credence when Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi confirmed in an official press conference that a major restructuring of the team was on the cards

Current Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer was reportedly the front-runner to spearhead Alpine’s F1 project

Otmar, however stated that “I too read those rumors a couple of days ago and I was as surprised as anybody else” [F1]

“I’ve been at the team for 12 years, I’ve no intention of leaving. I love this team, most of the senior managers and the senior leadership team was recruited and put there by myself and I have no intentions of leaving them”, he expanded

“I learned a long time ago that predicting the future is an impossibility, and if I could do that I’d be in Vegas now”, he stated when quizzed further

It was rumored that former F1 driver and current IndyCar team owner Michael Andretti’s attempt at buying Alfa Romeo’s F1 team fell through because he wasn’t ready to pay the price that was demanded [Autoweek]

Andretti clarified that he would “like to put an end to some of these rumors that the deal fell through because of financial reasons. That couldn't be further from the truth. It had nothing to do with that” [IndyCar Team Press Conference]

"It basically came down to control issues in the final hours of the negotiations. That's what killed the deal”, he elaborated

"I've always said if the deal is not right, we're not going to do it, and in the end it wasn't right. So we continue to look for other opportunities”, he summed up

Is buying an existing F1 team the best approach for Audi to enter the sport?

[FormulaWorld]

0:00 - Has Audi Really Bought Out McLaren?
1:55 - Rapid Rumours

[AtrolinK]

Nooo man! We want McLaren AND Audi, we don't want McLaren BECOMING Audi

[kristers]

McLaren has too much history to just get bought like that imo.

[Bluty]

Confirmed to be false. McLaren is trying to have the story removed.

[mushfiqkhan]

Audi might buy Haas tho?
Cuz if anyone leaves, it will be haas

[TheEdge]

Theres no way that could be true. Zero chance McLaren would be willing to lose their center stage position in front of the world especially on the upswing they're experiencing. Zac would never lose that especially considering his background.

[sephf]

I'm not in any way believing this. As a mclaren fan I'd hate it if this really happened

[fleursbruyantes]

If they bought Haas or even Alpha Romeo, I wouldn't care but I wouldn't want some johnny come lately to get their hands on a team that's as well run as McLaren is.

[DasECuz]

People who don't believe Otmar just don't know the way he talks. He basically is just saying anything is possible, even if it is EXTREMELY unlikely.

[aat]

doesn't it seem that porsche should join mclaren instead of audi, because andreas seidl used to work with porsche

[TheGreatLoco]

It’s better for Audi to gain access secretly to Mercedes-AMG engine technology.

If they make the deal public right away, Mercedes will pull out of the engine supply agreement, ruining the F1 team.

Since long time ago it looked like McLaren was to be absorbed by Apple to make electric cars, or some other big company.

McLaren Automotive got hit hard by the biological warfare situation, so the best is to sell while the company is worth something.

The VW Group already absorbed Rimac recently, putting Bugatti and Rimac that merged, under Porsche’s supervision.

[rpitition]

They could literally just start a new team with 200 Mil and spend the other 300 mil and development and facilities. I don’t know why they would ever wanna buy McLaren. This is coming from a McLaren fan by the way.

[xelasc]

McLaren: There's no way that a team with our history and pedigree can be bought because of financial reasons, not a
Williams: hold my beer.

[SaintGBar]

I mean audi becoming a supplier and mclaren becoming a works team would work best but for me it would have to be the type of thing like mclaren had with Mercedes where they still race under the mclaren colors

[BauerHermann]

I would love to see a 11. team join f1 instead of buying one. I mean its not like VW/Porsche/Audi dont have the money or capacitys to start a whole new operation

[jkarhiaho]

VW group should just create a new team(s). If they have the money to start an engine programme they surely have money to establish a team. I get the 200M entry fee as it benefits the existing teams and might prevent some them facing financial issues due to a new team, but the entry fee also seems to be a big stop sign for new teams.

[chrisallan]

The 'VW group' has such a massive depth of race engineering talent that I just can't see them not creating their own F1 car/team... and they would, from my, and likely the average fan perspective, be a welcome inclusion into the sport.

[axelknutt]

We know how much Macca is worth … Latifi’s dad bought 10% for £200mill = £2 billion for the lot … so Audi probably won’t do that.

But Audi don’t have to buy it all … all they need is to own a controlling share. Eg either 51% or form a coalition with some of the other share-holders that adds up to more than half.
There are only 7 shareholders … Mumtalakat (Bahrain) with roughly 55%; TAG with 14% ; Latifi with 10% and 3 others with 5% and one with nearly 3% (all % approximate). So even buying out all except Mumtalakat wouldn’t be enough - and cost nearly a billion pounds.
The Mansour family might be happy to sell out following the passing of Ojeh. (Value = £300mill.)
If Audi bought the TAG holding company - rather than just their shares, it would be correct to say ‘there is no change to the ownership structure’.
Then all Audi would need is the nod from the Bahrainis and they would out-vote the rest of the shareholders on who runs/controls/names the team.
And that’s how you buy a top 4 F1 team for £300 mill.

[Brownie-mssv]

VW/Audi already has the Lamborghini and Bentley brands as part of their group, so creating a new F1 team as 'Lamborghini powered by Audi' or something like that would make more sense to me.

[frenzybar]

McLaren-Audi with an Audi engine, they can't get rid of the McLaren name, too much legacy behind it!