The racing circuit nowadays buzzed with the rumours about German automotive manufacture Audi’s ambitious plan to take over Formula 1 team McLaren. Reports also claim that the working team of McLaren is not interested in selling the company, especially considering that they just got their financial footing back.
Following several reports over the last few months, one thing is certain that Volkswagen group wants to enter in F1 world via their two brands – Audi and Porsche. While the plan for Porsche is to forge an engine partnership with Red Bull or Williams, Audi wants to acquire the McLaren team. The luxury car company is even ready for a takeover of the entire McLaren brand if the first offer fails but as of now, their bid has been reportedly rejected.
“The ideal solution from the point of view of the company’s leaders apparently looks like this – Audi buy McLaren, either the entire company or just the racing team,” a report in the Auto Motor und Sport read.
The report also adds that “McLaren are apparently not very interested in a sale at the moment”.
It must be mentioned that in the last couple of years McLaren’s finances had taken a hit in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic enforced global shutdown. But, at the moment, they are doing reasonably well after American sports agency MSP Sports Capital bought 15% of their F1 team in December 2020. The American company also has plans to increase its stake in McLaren next year.
Meanwhile, the boom in the F1 industry post-pandemic and cost cap introduced this year means that every team, including the smaller ones, are on the verge of turning profits – another blockage in Audi’s ambition plan.
However, if Audi are serious about buying an F1 team Sauber/Alfa Romeo looks like a perfect option for them as according to the latest report their talks with Andretti Autosport have fallen through.
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