{"id":547877,"date":"2026-03-18T07:09:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T07:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/547877\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T07:09:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T07:09:20","slug":"how-revolut-is-using-audi-f1-to-supercharge-its-global-takeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/547877\/","title":{"rendered":"How Revolut is Using Audi F1 to Supercharge its Global Takeover"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ben<\/a><\/p>\n

Readtime: 9 min<\/p>\n

Every product is carefully selected by our editors and experts. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. Learn more.<\/a> For more information on how we test products, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Revolut targets the young \u2018Drive to Survive\u2019 F1 audience. Audi\u2019s \u201cpremium but achievable\u201d image perfectly aligns with Revolut. Revolut acts as the Audi team\u2019s official banking system. Saved FX fees are reinvested into the car\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

Record crowds attended this year\u2019s Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix<\/a> in Melbourne<\/a>, with more than 480,000 people coming through the gates throughout the event. Sure, it\u2019s short of the all-time Australian Grand Prix record set in 1995 when approximately 520,000 visited the final race in Adelaide. However, Saturday and Sunday at this year\u2019s race saw the second-highest attendance on record, according to the Australian Grand Prix Corporation.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve visited for the last three years, and I\u2019ve never seen as many people in the Australian F1 Grand Prix hospitality suites as I did on Sunday<\/a>. Coming from all walks of life, Albert Park was packed to the brim with journalists, influencers, ex-racers, CEOs, and more. There was no hope of getting a seat up on the balcony above the Podium Club, and finding your spot in the grandstands and patches of grass around the track was even more difficult. It was a direct reflection of the sport\u2019s popularity, and it\u2019s easy to see why brands want to be part of the show.<\/p>\n

This was the premise of my chat<\/a> with Matt Baxby, CEO of Revolut Australia, and Antoine Le Nel, Chief Growth and Marketing Officer at Revolut. It\u2019s easy to understand why they\u2019re the title sponsor of the Audi Formula 1 team, but I wanted to understand the process, the meaning behind the partnership, and how it will help the Revolut brand in its global takeover.<\/p>\n

\"RevolutRevolut at Formula 1 Australian GP | Image: Supplied \/ Revolut Revolut and the \u2018Drive to Survive\u2019 Economy <\/p>\n

Before we sat down for our interview, I spent time with Antoine Le Nel in the Paddock Club. He explained that if you want to understand why a fintech giant is taking on Formula 1 to spearhead its global takeover, you just have to look at the money. The fact is that F1 is no longer a niche club for gearheads. It has been rebranded by Netflix\u2019s\u00a0\u201cDrive to Survive\u201d\u00a0series, and the sport\u2019s demographics have shifted dramatically.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019s a core fan that knows the 1.6-litre engine turbo with the battery,\u201d Le Nel points out. \u201cThen you have the others that are watching \u2018Drive to Survive,\u2019 and are more into what Revolut represents\u2026 that\u2019s what Revolut wants to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newly released data from Revolut shows that consumer spending across Melbourne surged 19.1% year-on-year during the race weekend. But it\u2019s who was spending that proves Revolut\u2019s strategy is spot-on:<\/p>\n

Customers aged 18\u201334 accounted for a massive 65% of all spending during the GP weekend. International visitors accounted for more than 55% of all spending, led by the UK, France, and Italy. Taxis and rideshare spending exploded by 133.1%, while restaurants (+13.1%) saw massive bumps.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the exact event that a borderless financial platform that thrives on multi-currency utility and targets tech-savvy early adopters would want to get involved in. Put your brand name down the side of an F1 car, and you\u2019ll have the ultimate highly targeted billboard. My words, not his.<\/p>\n

\"RevolutRevolut at Formula 1 Australian GP | Image: Supplied \/ Revolut Audi is the \u2018Premium But Achievable\u2019 Sweet Spot <\/p>\n

Revolut\u2019s plan to sponsor an F1 team came together more quickly than expected when new entrant Audi Formula 1 announced its intention to join the grid. It\u2019s difficult to enter a sport dominated by historic heavyweights like Ferrari, McLaren, and Aston Martin. However, it works in Revolut\u2019s favour, as tying your brand to a new entrant (with one of the most attractive liveries on the grid) is a calculated psychological play.<\/p>\n

The Revolut and Audi Formula 1 deal was secured in a record-breaking four months, driven by a shared \u201cbuilder\u201d DNA between the brands. But more importantly, Audi perfectly mirrors Revolut\u2019s brand position as a premium but relatable entity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAudi is a premium brand, but it\u2019s a relatable brand,\u201d Le Nel points out. \u201cAston Martin, Ferrari, and McLaren are very premium, but not relatable. How many people have an Aston Martin in the garage? While an Audi is premium, it\u2019s achievable. You can get there. And that\u2019s the exact position we want for Revolut.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Le Nel, it\u2019s about elevating the fintech space to a level of luxury. \u201cWe want to build a premiumness on our brand, which I don\u2019t think any bank, any fintech has ever done,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt\u2019s not good to look premium for a bank necessarily, because they struggle with that premiumness compared to other brands, but we want to do that.\u201d Unironically, it\u2019s the exact same recipe that Formula 1 has built its image on.<\/p>\n

\"RevolutRevolut at Formula 1 Australian GP | Image: Supplied \/ Revolut Physical Cards Aren\u2019t Dead, They\u2019re a Fashion Accessory <\/p>\n

We also spoke about Revolut\u2019s physical cards, and as someone who was tired of using their phone to pay for coffee in the morning and bought a designer card holder<\/a> for a few hundred dollars, only to never use it again, the idea was somewhat lost on me. Still, in an age where Apple Pay and digital wallets dominate, it\u2019s easy to assume the physical bank card is headed for extinction, but Le Nel strongly disagrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cLots of people are saying now with Apple Pay, etc., that cards are disappearing. That\u2019s actually very wrong,\u201d Le Nel asserts. \u201cCards are actually a fashion item that people really enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He points to the massive success of their 24-karat gold cards, the new Official Audi Revolut F1 Team Card, and upcoming collaborations. \u201cThe moment you pay with your card and you have your mates around and you show your card, it\u2019s just a little feel-good moment. Of course, it\u2019s very futile. I\u2019m not going to say it\u2019s the most important thing that you need in your life, but I\u2019m saying this is a feel-good moment. And people need feel-good moments in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RevolutRevolut at Formula 1 Australian GP | Image: Supplied \/ Revolut Hacking the F1 Budget Cap <\/p>\n

The important thing to remember here is that the partnership is more than a logo on the side of the car. The Audi Formula 1 team runs on Revolut, meaning the title sponsor actually serves as a financial strategy to make the car faster. \u201cRevolut is fundamentally embedded in the team,\u201d Le Nel revealed to me. \u201cThe team is operating on Revolut. So the banking system of the team is Revolut.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of FX (foreign exchange) in this business,\u201d Le Nel explains. \u201cBut then, when suddenly you save a few bips here or there in FX, well, that\u2019s money you can actually put in the development. Instead of putting it in the bank\u2026 suddenly you gain in performance. When you look at the difference between the team performance, it\u2019s actually percentage points. So you can actually make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RevolutRevolut at Formula 1 Australian GP | Image: Supplied \/ Revolut The Australian Blueprint: Subscriptions, eSIMs, and the AFL <\/p>\n

I then spoke with Matt Baxby, CEO of Revolut Australia, who notes that the brand\u2019s success stems from completely rewriting the banking rulebook. Revolut\u2019s global vision is immense, and the local execution is equally aggressive. Australia was Revolut\u2019s first expansion market outside of Europe, and they\u2019ve just cracked the 1 million customer milestone domestically.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat central idea of putting all of the problems people have to solve in one place is a key to it,\u201d Baxby says. \u201cChallenging what people expect from their bank\u2026 people wouldn\u2019t expect their bank to serve up a subscription to Duolingo or Tinder Gold or all the other things that we\u2019ve bundled in.\u201d<\/p>\n

That local ambition is why Revolut isn\u2019t just relying on the F1. They\u2019ve wrapped Melbourne trams, I couldn\u2019t avoid their signage in the airbridge on the way to the plane, and signed a major sponsorship deal with the Hawthorn Hawks (who Baxby describes perfectly). \u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a disruptor, it\u2019s on the up. It\u2019s got some personalities in the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember sitting down with our founder Nick (Storonsky) when I first joined Revolut six years ago,\u201d Baxby recalls. \u201cHe said, \u2018All I want you to be is number one in the market.\u2019 Not in a constrained sense of best digital bank\u2026 \u2018I expect you to be the market leader.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RevolutRevolut at Formula 1 Australian GP | Image: Supplied \/ Revolut What Does the Future of Revolut Look Like? <\/p>\n

Ultimately, Revolut\u2019s F1 expansion and future success boil down to a specific psychological reaction. Le Nel describes it as a double hit, with a \u201cwow and wow\u201d effect. Meanwhile, for Baxby, it\u2019s about creating tribal loyalty among users. \u201cIt\u2019s people being proud to be associated with the brand,\u201d he notes. \u201cBeing able to say, \u2018I\u2019m with Revolut,\u2019 because it stands for something.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does the future of Revolut look like? Well, Le Nel calls it the end of the beginning. \u201cIt probably means the end of the beginning,\u201d Antoine Le Nel tells me. \u201cWe\u2019ve spent the first 10 years beginning something. Now, I think that\u2019s it, we\u2019re done with the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a company that has already amassed 70 million customers globally (including over 1 million in Australia), it\u2019s a bold statement. \u201cWe\u2019ve built something amazing\u2026 we\u2019ve achieved a scale that all our competitors would dream of,\u201d he explains. \u201cAnd now we\u2019re in a place with this F1 deal where we\u2019re just preparing the second phase\u2026 We should reach hundreds of millions. Very quickly, honestly, in the next 5 to 10 years, we\u2019re gonna count in hundreds of millions. I think this is the turning point where suddenly, from being a European company, we\u2019re becoming a truly global company.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Readtime: 9 min Every product is carefully selected by our editors and experts. If you buy from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,186,813,816,5296,85],"class_list":["post-547877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-finance","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-interviews","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}