{"id":941929,"date":"2026-10-22T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T10:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/941929\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T10:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T10:00:10","slug":"audi-lost-its-way-the-brand-is-betting-on-the-spectacle-of-f1-to-find-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/941929\/","title":{"rendered":"Audi lost its way. The brand is betting on the spectacle of F1 to find itself"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019d just stepped from the shower during his post-race interview. <\/p>\n

The hot, hazy weather didn\u2019t 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Adidas launched a clothing collection inspired by the team\u2019s special livery.Andrin Fretz\/Courtesy of manufacturer<\/p>\n

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\u2019s nothing else like it.<\/p>\n

The sport\u2019s 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<\/a> euros. Cadillac also launched its own F1 team this season. It\u2019s 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<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But as the company\u2019s chief executive officer, Gernot Doellner, told me earlier this year, Audi had somewhat lost track of its heritage and identity<\/a>. This F1 bid isn\u2019t only about winning on Sunday and selling on Monday; it\u2019s also about rebuilding and reinventing the Audi brand. Despite not winning any races \u2013 at least not yet \u2013 the strategy seems to be working.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s not winning on Sunday, because we didn\u2019t win yet, but it\u2019s racing on Sunday and selling throughout the week,\u201d said Stefano Battiston, chief commercial officer of the Audi Revolut F1 Team, while sitting at the team\u2019s headquarters in the paddock.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s F1 drivers in a high-end shopping mall, and a company spokesperson noted that the vehicle\u2019s entire first-year production run is already sold out globally. The F1 tie-in appears to be working.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project is built on a business case, so it\u2019s not just having fun in Formula One,\u201d said Benedikt Still, communications coordinator for Audi\u2019s F1 project. \u201cWe are quite sure that it is a good investment.\u201d <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Audi drivers Nico Hulkenberg (left) and Gabriel Bortoleto walk alongside an an RS 5.Andy Hone\/Courtesy of manufacturer<\/p>\n

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. \u201cIt\u2019s a really nice opportunity to generate new sales leads.\u201d<\/p>\n

Battiston compared an F1 team to a Netflix show: \u201cYou want to know what\u2019s happening next, what\u2019s going on, highs, lows, following a journey.\u201d <\/p>\n

F1 is a platform; the execution is up to Audi. \u201cThe platform itself doesn\u2019t mean that people will automatically buy our T-shirts, buy our merchandise,\u201d Battiston said. \u201cWe need to give them the reason why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The F1 car and special livery are shown off at an activation.Andrin Fretz\/Courtesy of manufacturer<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 named for its drivers Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg \u2013 while Adidas debuted a clothing collection inspired by the team\u2019s special livery for the Singapore Grand Prix. The special livery, seen on Audi\u2019s R26 F1 car, featured a design inspired by traditional regional Peranakan patterns.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Massimo Frascella, Audi\u2019s chief creative officer, worked on the race car\u2019s special livery and travelled to Singapore for the event. Audi\u2019s F1 project, he said, previews what\u2019s to come on the commercial side of the business. \u201cWe 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,\u201d Frascella said. He pointed to Audi\u2019s Concept C and the upcoming Nuvolari supercar as being \u201cin tune\u201d with the F1 design philosophy.<\/p>\n

During the Grand Prix on Sunday, Hulkenberg fended off Mercedes\u2019s George Russell to finish eighth while Bortoleto left the race early after his gearbox malfunctioned. The other newcomer, Cadillac, finished last. Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen dominated the race to claim victory, but a third-place finish for Mercedes\u2019s Antonelli edged the 20-year-old closer to becoming the youngest champion in F1 history.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Both drivers at the Adidas off-track event in Singapore during race week.Andrin Fretz\/Courtesy of manufacturer<\/p>\n

For Battiston, the race result is only one data point. He\u2019ll be looking at everything, from the pop-up events to sponsorships, reach and merchandise. <\/p>\n

\u201cSingapore 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\u2019t work,\u201d Battiston said. <\/p>\n

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\u2019s F1 investment. \u201cWe want to become World Champion by 2030,\u201d he said matter-of-factly.<\/p>\n

The writer was a guest of the automaker. Content was not subject to approval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: For a joint Audi and Adidas pop-up event, drivers joined fans alongside the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,2922,30296,82],"class_list":["post-941929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-noastack","tag-ordid10000","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}