Audi
F1 Team Value & Salaries
Audi F1 Team Value and Net Worth in 2026
PlanetF1 valued the Audi F1 team at $2.6bn in August 2026, level with Alpine and just behind Williams. Forbes had the same Hinwil operation, still racing as Sauber, at $2.4bn in 2025, while Sportico’s model came in well below at $1.88bn. None of those numbers is what Audi paid for Sauber, because that price has never been made public.
The latest full-year figures are still Sauber’s. Forbes puts 2024 F1 revenue at $240m with a $25m operating loss, in a year when the team scored just four points. Driver pay is a modest $9m in 2026, and Nico Hülkenberg earns $7m of it.
Values the Audi team at $2.6bn in its August 2026 grid ranking, the figure used for team value here.
Forbes values Sauber at $2.4bn for 2025 and models $240m of 2024 F1 revenue with a $25m operating loss.
Sportico's Sauber estimates from 2023 to 2025, including its lower $1.88bn value and earlier revenue and profit figures.
Driver pay takes 3.8% of Audi's revenue, and the team spent $25m more than it brought in.
Revenue and profit are from the latest filed accounts. Driver pay is the 2026 base salary of both race drivers.
Audi F1 Drivers and Their 2026 Salaries
Nico Hülkenberg
Gabriel Bortoleto
Nico Hülkenberg’s salary is $7m, the higher of Audi’s two. He signed the deal in April 2024, while the team was still Sauber, and it’s worth $21m over three years from 2025 to the end of 2027.
Gabriel Bortoleto’s salary is $2m, but he has the longer commitment. His four-year contract, announced in November 2024, is worth $8m and keeps him with the team until the end of 2028, a season beyond his teammate. Audi’s driver salaries come to $9m in 2026.
Projected years come from signed deals, using reported figures where they exist and estimates where they don't. TBC means that seat isn't signed yet.
F1 Driver Market
Compare F1 Drivers
How Much Do Audi F1 Team Members Earn?
Mattia Binotto took over team principal duties from Jonathan Wheatley in March 2026, and James Key is chief technical officer. Audi doesn’t publish pay for its Hinwil or Neuburg staff, so the $75k industry benchmark is the best guide for a race mechanic.
Staff Pay Estimates
8 Staff Members
| # | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CEO and Team Principal of Audi F1 | £2m-5m($2.7m-6.6m) | £2.2m-6.5m($2.9m-8.6m) | |
| 2 | CEO of Audi AG | €1.5m($1.7m) | €3.22m($3.7m) | |
| 3 | CTO and Management Board Spokesperson of Audi Formula Racing | £500k-2m($663k-2.7m) | £550k-2.6m($729k-3.4m) | |
| 4 | Technical Director | £500k-2m($663k-2.7m) | £550k-2.6m($729k-3.4m) | |
| 5 | Chief Operating Officer of Audi Formula Racing | £300k-1m($398k-1.3m) | £330k-1.3m($437k-1.7m) | |
| 6 | Sporting Director | £200k-450k($265k-596k) | £220k-585k($292k-775k) | |
| 7 | Race Engineer to Nico Hülkenberg | £100k-180k($133k-239k) | £110k-234k($146k-310k) | |
| 8 | Race Engineer to Gabriel Bortoleto | £100k-180k($133k-239k) | £110k-234k($146k-310k) |
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Insider · Issue 23
01 · The Last Race
Singapore by Salary
Pos
Driver
Pts
Salary
1
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
25
$70m
2
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
18
$34m
3
Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
15
$3.4m
4
Lando Norris
McLaren
12
$30m
5
Oscar Piastri
McLaren
10
$13m
6
Insider+
7
Insider+
Our Take · Insider+
What Each Point Now Costs Red Bull
Audi F1 Ownership and the Qatar Stake
Audi controls the team it has built out of Sauber, and Qatar Investment Authority holds a significant minority stake that Audi confirmed in November 2024. Sky Sports reported that stake at roughly 30%, which would leave Audi with about 70%, but the split hasn’t been officially published.
Neither deal has a public price. The $2.6bn valuation is a market estimate rather than what Audi paid for Sauber, and taking 30% of it doesn’t tell you what QIA invested either. Revolut’s name is in the team title as a sponsor, not as an owner.
Sets out Audi's control of the former Sauber team and QIA's place as a minority investor.
Reports the confirmed QIA investment from November 2024 alongside Sky's own information that the stake is roughly 30%.
Audi Revolut F1 Team
8th in 2026
Official 2026 profile for the full team name, Hinwil base, R26 chassis, Audi power unit and season results.
Kym Illman's 2025 estimate of about 750 chassis staff at Sauber, with engine staff left out, and the grid pay benchmarks.
Season results for Sauber from 1993 to 2005, 2011 to 2018 and 2024 to 2025, used in the lineage totals.
Season results for BMW Sauber from 2006 to 2010, including the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix win.
Season results for the Hinwil Alfa Romeo team from 2019 to 2023, kept apart from the original works team.
Audi's Results and the Sauber Record Behind Them
Audi’s first works season has brought 23 points from 18 Grands Prix and eighth place, with no podium yet. Everything else comes from the teams that raced out of Hinwil before it, namely Sauber, BMW Sauber and the Alfa Romeo-branded team of 2019 to 2023.
Add Audi’s points and the lineage comes to one win, 28 podiums and 1,111 points in 34 seasons, without a championship. Robert Kubica’s 2008 win in Canada, with Nick Heidfeld second, is still the high point, and BMW Sauber’s second place in 2007 is the best finish.
Audi Season by Season
34 Seasons
| # | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026Audi | Audi | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 8th |
| 2 | 2025Sauber | Sauber | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 70 | 9th |
| 3 | 2024Sauber | Sauber | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10th |
| 4 | 2023Alfa Romeo | Alfa Romeo | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 9th |
| 5 | 2022Alfa Romeo | Alfa Romeo | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 55 | 6th |
| 6 | 2021Alfa Romeo | Alfa Romeo | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 9th |
| 7 | 2020Alfa Romeo | Alfa Romeo | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8th |
| 8 | 2019Alfa Romeo | Alfa Romeo | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 8th |
| 9 | 2018Sauber | Sauber | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 8th |
| 10 | 2017Sauber | Sauber | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10th |
| 11 | 2016Sauber | Sauber | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10th |
| 12 | 2015Sauber | Sauber | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 8th |
| 13 | 2014Sauber | Sauber | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10th |
| 14 | 2013Sauber | Sauber | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 57 | 7th |
| 15 | 2012Sauber | Sauber | 20 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 126 | 6th |
| 16 | 2011Sauber | Sauber | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 7th |
| 17 | 2010BMW Sauber | BMW Sauber | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 8th |
| 18 | 2009BMW Sauber | BMW Sauber | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 6th |
| 19 | 2008BMW Sauber | BMW Sauber | 18 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 135 | 3rd |
| 20 | 2007BMW Sauber | BMW Sauber | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 101 | 2nd |
| 21 | 2006BMW Sauber | BMW Sauber | 18 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 5th |
| 22 | 2005Sauber | Sauber | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 8th |
| 23 | 2004Sauber | Sauber | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 6th |
| 24 | 2003Sauber | Sauber | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 6th |
| 25 | 2002Sauber | Sauber | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 5th |
| 26 | 2001Sauber | Sauber | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 4th |
| 27 | 2000Sauber | Sauber | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8th |
| 28 | 1999Sauber | Sauber | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8th |
| 29 | 1998Sauber | Sauber | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 6th |
| 30 | 1997Sauber | Sauber | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 7th |
| 31 | 1996Sauber | Sauber | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 7th |
| 32 | 1995Sauber | Sauber | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 7th |
| 33 | 1994Sauber | Sauber | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 8th |
| 34 | 1993Sauber | Sauber | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 7th |
Every Audi Sponsor in 2026
How Sauber Became the Audi F1 Team
Audi only arrived in 2026, but the Hinwil team it took over has raced in F1 since 1993 and built cars since 1970.
Sports Car Winners First
Peter Sauber founded his company in 1970 and made its name in sports cars. The Sauber-Mercedes C9 won the 1989 Le Mans 24 Hours and the team took world sportscar titles in 1989 and 1990. A young Michael Schumacher raced for it before the team’s move into F1 in 1993.
Sauber Goes It Alone
Sauber’s F1 life began at the 1993 South African Grand Prix, where JJ Lehto finished fifth. It later ran Ferrari engines badged as Petronas, and fourth in 2001, the year Kimi Räikkönen made his debut, was its best result as an independent team.
BMW Takes Over
BMW bought the team for 2006 and turned it into a works outfit. It finished second in 2007 after McLaren’s exclusion, and Robert Kubica won the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix with Nick Heidfeld second, which is still the lineage’s only victory. BMW pulled out after 2009.
Peter Sauber Buys It Back
Peter Sauber bought the team back, although the 2010 car still raced as BMW Sauber with Ferrari engines. The Sauber name returned in 2011 and four podiums in 2012 were the high point. Leaner years followed, and Longbow Finance took control in 2016.
Racing Under the Alfa Romeo Name
The team raced as Alfa Romeo from 2019, a year after the Italian brand arrived as title sponsor. Kimi Räikkönen returned for three seasons and sixth in 2022 was the best finish. It’s a separate outfit from the Alfa Romeo works team that won the 1950 and 1951 titles.
The Countdown to Audi
Sauber went back to its own name for 2024 with Stake and Kick branding on the cars, while Audi’s takeover and QIA’s investment paid for the changeover. It scored four points that year and 70 in 2025, including Nico Hülkenberg’s podium at the British Grand Prix.
Audi Arrives as a Works Team
Audi is both the team name and the engine maker in 2026, with the chassis developed at Hinwil and the power unit at Neuburg in Germany. Mattia Binotto took on team principal duties in March, QIA remains a minority owner, and the team is eighth on 23 points.
What People Ask About Audi F1
Audi’s price for Sauber has never been made public. The $2.6bn figure often linked to the team is PlanetF1’s 2026 market valuation, not a purchase price. Sky Sports reported that Qatar’s QIA took roughly 30%, but that doesn’t reveal how much cash Audi itself paid for the business.
Audi’s F1 team runs its own power unit, developed at Neuburg in Germany, while the chassis is designed at Hinwil in Switzerland. It’s the team’s first works engine since the BMW years. Sauber ran customer Ferrari engines until the Audi era began in 2026.
Audi owns and controls the Audi F1 team, and Qatar Investment Authority holds a significant minority stake confirmed in November 2024. Sky Sports put that stake at roughly 30%, with Audi holding about 70%, but the exact percentages haven’t been officially published. Revolut is the title sponsor rather than a shareholder.
The Audi F1 team is worth $2.6bn according to PlanetF1’s August 2026 valuation, which puts it level with Alpine. Forbes valued the same team, then called Sauber, at $2.4bn in 2025, and Sportico’s lower model had it at $1.88bn. That’s a value for the F1 team, not for Audi the carmaker.
Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto drive for Audi in 2026 on base salaries of $7m and $2m. Hülkenberg is signed to the end of 2027 on a $21m deal, and Bortoleto’s $8m contract runs a year longer to the end of 2028. Together they cost the team $9m this season.
Mattia Binotto is Audi’s team principal. An announcement on March 20, 2026 handed him the role and replaced Jonathan Wheatley’s appointment, so Binotto now combines it with leading the wider Audi F1 project. Allan McNish works alongside him as racing director.
There’s no evidence that Audi F1 staff earn a blanket Swiss premium, and the claim of 45% higher pay isn’t backed by any salary disclosure. Audi doesn’t publish a pay scale. Industry benchmarks put a race mechanic around $75k, a number one mechanic near $100k and a race engineer about $135k.