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McLaren Group denies “wholly inaccurate” report of sale to Audi

2021 F1 season

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The McLaren Group has issued a statement denying a report which claimed it has been purchased by Volkswagen Group brand Audi.

The report which emerged on Monday morning claimed the sale of the group would be used by Audi as a means of entering Formula 1.

“McLaren Group is aware of a news media report stating it has been sold to Audi,” said the group in a statement. “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.”

McLaren Group includes its Racing division, which fields teams in F1, IndyCar and soon Extreme E too, plus its Automotive branch. The McLaren Applied technology division was sold to Greybull Capital in August.

Last year McLaren Group made significant staff cuts, shedding around 1,200 staff following the onset of the pandemic, a small number of which were in its racing division. It later sold a 33% stake in the Racing division to MSP Sports Capital, bringing around £185 million into the team.

Audi is believed to be considering an entry into F1 when the series introduces a new power unit formula in 2026.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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32 comments on “McLaren Group denies “wholly inaccurate” report of sale to Audi”

  1. Unsurprising. Too good to be true.

    1. I can’t see what’s good about a car company buying a historical racing team.

      Sauber wasn’t very historical in those days, but little did BMW add when they acquired them.

      1. I’d say a historical racing car company buying another (Auto Union)

    2. Losing McLaren would be tragic for F1. Too good!? Besides, Audi would probably leave F1 in a few years, McLaren is here since stone age. I want new teams (especially real manufacturers) too, but if they are serious, they really don’t need to buy an existing team. I can’t imagine F1 without McLaren, Williams, even Sauber, we need some of them to remain; even if they are being sold to some soulless American funds.

      1. Ferrari, Williams, Mclaren (Must have)
        Renault, Sauber, Faenza team, (Would be nice to have)
        Mercedes, Haas, Red Bull, Racing Point (Not so important)
        Of course more team would be nice.

        1. Don’t see how alpha tauri is more important than red bull, completely disagree with this list except the obvious 3 historical teams.

          1. Qeki said a Faenza based team, not AlphaTauri specifically. The team started in the mid-80s as Minardi and are as much of a heritage team as Sauber is.

          2. @trido

            Red Bull started in the late 90’s. When does a team become a heritage team? Or can’t Red Bull become heritage because they use the F1 as a marketing tool?

            Mercedes is the original Tyrrell team, Racing Point (or Aston Martin) was Jordan.

            Why are these two classed as not so important in your observation but a team like Renault is nice to have?

            I accept a list like yours is based on personal preference and nothing else but I disagree with your list also because there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.

        2. @qeki (initial reply addressed to the wrong person! sorry!!)

          Red Bull started in the late 90’s as Stewart. When does a team become a heritage team? Or can’t Red Bull become heritage because they use F1 as a marketing tool?

          Mercedes is the original Tyrrell team, Racing Point (or Aston Martin) was Jordan.

          Why are these two classed as not so important in your observation but a team like Renault is nice to have?

          I accept a list like yours is based on personal preference and nothing else but I disagree with your list because there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.

          1. @dnny @trido Maybe I should have put Alpha Tauri and Red Bull in a same list. But Minardi and Tyrrel have more heritage in F1 than Mercedes. So if Mercedes will keep on going for a decade or more maybe then they will have more heritage. Of course they have won everything since 2014 but if they will sell their team after a couple of years they were only a big car company that came to F1 and left.

    3. Maybe the perfect lineup could be:

      Alfa Romeo
      Arrows
      Aston Martin
      Cooper
      “Faenza Team”
      Ferrari
      “Silverstone team”
      Honda
      Lotus
      Mclaren
      Renault
      Sauber
      Toyota
      Tyrrell
      Williams

      15 teams 30 drivers. (So it would need the prequalifying)

      1. @qeki

        I like these type of discussions. If I could have 15 teams I think my 15 would be (in no particular order)

        Ferrari
        Minardi
        McLaren
        Red Bull
        Williams
        Lotus
        Sauber
        Tyrrell
        Renault
        Ligier
        Andretti
        Honda
        Brabham
        Jordan
        Arrows

        I am a bit bias though as I do not like to see engine manufacturers operating as a whole team (Ferrari excluded due to history)

        These team names with customer engines, wow, that would get exciting for me!

  2. I saw this story on Twitter this morning. My first reaction was ‘Really?’ I did not seem very likely to me.

    Funny how this has come about though. How would anyone come up with it? No smoke without fire, perhaps.

  3. Would love to see Audi in F1.

    1. I’d rather see Porsche (return).

      1. Audi team with Porsche engines?

    2. I’d like to see either Audi or Porsche in the sport, but not if it means cannibalizing a historic team.

  4. The report in Autosport stated that “Audi has agreed to a takeover” of Mclaren. Mclaren denied that it had been sold to Audi. There is a difference between agreeing to buy something and it being sold.

    Seems to me that Mclaren are denying something that was not stated. A convenient cover up?

    1. It was an Autocar report they denied, which was posted on Twitter with the following headline:

      BREAKING: An Autocar source says Audi has bought the entire McLaren Group with plans to enter its own team in Formula 1

  5. Obviously it’s inaccurate in the present, but I hope it doesn’t become accurate in the future.

    Had a tiny, tiny bit of hope we might get a 22-car grid if a new player decided to enter.

    1. Inaccurate exactly

  6. Maybe it’s two birds with one stone for the VWG, an F1 team plus another prestigious sports car brand.

  7. “No change in ownership structure” isn’t quite the same as not change in ownership. Good to see Ronspeak is alive and well in McLaren

  8. Doesn’t make sense. If Audi just want an F1 entry there are far cheaper teams to buy out than the one that also has programs in Indy and Extreme E. Let alone the automotive side.

    Maybe there’s more to that but as it stands the reasoning of just wanting an F1 entry doesn’t hold.

    1. @skipgamer on the other hand, for a company like VW, a team like McLaren might be more attractive for a number of reasons.

      Better existing infrastructure and more experienced staff might then mean you don’t have to then spend more money trying to build the team up – i.e. the upfront cost might be higher, but then less investment is required afterwards – and the McLaren brand could well be retained to allow VW to cash in on its value, which is likely to be much higher than other teams down the field.

      As for those IndyCar and Extreme E projects, those might not necessarily be seen as a bad thing either – if you were wanting to build up your profile in the USA, an IndyCar team could be leveraged to that goal, whilst the Extreme E would fit into the VW Group’s wider efforts in electric car manufacturing.

      1. Besides getting the infrastructure, staff, and knowledge, you also don’t lose the time (years) getting to a competitive level.
        And since you wouldn’t come in and be at the top from the beginning, you would probably have to fight midfield teams first – so acquiring one also means one less team to fight against.

  9. Isnt autosport owned by Zac Brown?

    1. He used to but resigned in 2019 as non-executive chairman

  10. Relieved there is no truth to it. VW have seldom shown true interest in F1, and have a tendency to quit series at will, so I’d hate to see McLaren bought out by Audi just to have the plug pulled on them 5 years later.

  11. Any plans Audi has are 4 years away? Irrelevant. We have a better chance of seeing a team from Porsche.

  12. No idea which news media broke this story, I hadn’t heard of it. Probably just rubbish to generate page clicks.

Comments are closed.