For a joint Audi and Adidas pop-up event, drivers joined fans alongside the F1 car and RS 5, which were on display.Andrin Fretz/Courtesy of manufacturer
As Formula One descended on Singapore earlier this month for the 17th grand prix of the season, daytime highs hovered around 32 C, but extreme humidity made it feel closer to 40. It’s one of the most exhausting races for drivers, who lose about three kilograms from sweat during the race. Kimi Antonelli, the 20-year-old on track to become the youngest driver to win the Formula One World Championship, was drenched and looked as if he’d just stepped from the shower during his post-race interview.
The hot, hazy weather didn’t stop eager fans from lining up well before the gates opened. Clad in team jerseys and clutching portable fans to brave the heat, spectators waited hours for a glimpse of their favourite drivers, celebrities and Kim Kardashian. Not even a torrential downpour ahead of Saturday’s sprint race could drive the crowd from the packed grandstands. The venue radiated a music festival atmosphere, capped off with a Lana Del Rey concert on Sunday to close out the weekend.
Nico Hulkenberg of Germany driving the (27) Audi F1 Team R26 on track during Sprint Qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 09, 2026.Clive Rose/Courtesy of manufacturer
Adidas launched a clothing collection inspired by the team’s special livery.Andrin Fretz/Courtesy of manufacturer
Watching Formula One whip this sold-out crowd of 301,000 spectators and corporate sponsors into a frenzy of fandom and commerce laid bare the true globe-trotting marketing behemoth the sport has become. There’s nothing else like it.
The sport’s newfound marketing power and prestige are undoubtedly what drew Audi to enter F1 with its own team this year, at an estimated cost of about 600 million euros. Cadillac also launched its own F1 team this season. It’s an eye-watering sum for a company looking to cut costs and jobs in the face of Chinese competition, U.S. tariffs and other headwinds.
But as the company’s chief executive officer, Gernot Doellner, told me earlier this year, Audi had somewhat lost track of its heritage and identity. This F1 bid isn’t only about winning on Sunday and selling on Monday; it’s also about rebuilding and reinventing the Audi brand. Despite not winning any races – at least not yet – the strategy seems to be working.
“Maybe it’s not winning on Sunday, because we didn’t win yet, but it’s racing on Sunday and selling throughout the week,” said Stefano Battiston, chief commercial officer of the Audi Revolut F1 Team, while sitting at the team’s headquarters in the paddock.
Case in point: At an event alongside the season-opening F1 race in Australia, Audi sold approximately 80 examples of its new high-performance RS 5 right on the spot. Canadian prices have yet to be announced, but the RS 5 is expected to cost about $90,000. In Singapore, the RS 5 Avant wagon was showcased alongside the team’s F1 drivers in a high-end shopping mall, and a company spokesperson noted that the vehicle’s entire first-year production run is already sold out globally. The F1 tie-in appears to be working.
“The project is built on a business case, so it’s not just having fun in Formula One,” said Benedikt Still, communications coordinator for Audi’s F1 project. “We are quite sure that it is a good investment.”
Audi drivers Nico Hulkenberg (left) and Gabriel Bortoleto walk alongside an an RS 5.Andy Hone/Courtesy of manufacturer
F1 provides a boost to Audi in every country on the race calendar, Still said, noting that new customers visit local dealerships to buy team merchandise and watch races at public viewing events. “It’s a really nice opportunity to generate new sales leads.”
Battiston compared an F1 team to a Netflix show: “You want to know what’s happening next, what’s going on, highs, lows, following a journey.”
F1 is a platform; the execution is up to Audi. “The platform itself doesn’t mean that people will automatically buy our T-shirts, buy our merchandise,” Battiston said. “We need to give them the reason why.”
The F1 car and special livery are shown off at an activation.Andrin Fretz/Courtesy of manufacturer
To that end, in Singapore, Audi orchestrated a series of public pop-ups before and during Grand Prix weekend. Audi partnered with a local gelato shop, launching a not-too-sweet minty-vanilla flavour called Gabico – named for its drivers Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg – while Adidas debuted a clothing collection inspired by the team’s special livery for the Singapore Grand Prix. The special livery, seen on Audi’s R26 F1 car, featured a design inspired by traditional regional Peranakan patterns.
Grand Prix week features numerous activations. For one of them, Audi launched a new flavour of gelato with a local shop called Gabico, named for its drivers Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg. It was a minty vanilla, not too sweet.R5_Louistr__/Courtesy of manufacturer
Massimo Frascella, Audi’s chief creative officer, worked on the race car’s special livery and travelled to Singapore for the event. Audi’s F1 project, he said, previews what’s to come on the commercial side of the business. “We introduced a new typeface, a new corporate identity, corporate design in Formula One, and this is, little by little, shifting into the Audi as a brand,” Frascella said. He pointed to Audi’s Concept C and the upcoming Nuvolari supercar as being “in tune” with the F1 design philosophy.
During the Grand Prix on Sunday, Hulkenberg fended off Mercedes’s George Russell to finish eighth while Bortoleto left the race early after his gearbox malfunctioned. The other newcomer, Cadillac, finished last. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dominated the race to claim victory, but a third-place finish for Mercedes’s Antonelli edged the 20-year-old closer to becoming the youngest champion in F1 history.
Both drivers at the Adidas off-track event in Singapore during race week.Andrin Fretz/Courtesy of manufacturer
For Battiston, the race result is only one data point. He’ll be looking at everything, from the pop-up events to sponsorships, reach and merchandise.
“Singapore is an amazing activation of what we do. But, Monday after Singapore, we collect all the data and we look and see what worked, what didn’t work,” Battiston said.
He had a two-week window before the next race in Texas this weekend to tweak the commercial side of the team to maximize the return on Audi’s F1 investment. “We want to become World Champion by 2030,” he said matter-of-factly.
The writer was a guest of the automaker. Content was not subject to approval.