Audi F1 agreed a partial sale of their incoming team to Qatar, with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff managing to sneak in to watch the deal being sealed.

That being said, the “secret” element was always going to be at risk when the “QIA Signing Ceremony” sign had appeared in the hotel.

Toto Wolff sneaks into Audi F1 Qatar contract signing

In a huge twist to the Audi F1 entry, the German manufacturer has sold, as PlanetF1.com understands, a 30 per cent share in the team to the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

QIA has therefore added a stake in the team to its portfolio of assets valued at around $475 billion.

Audi F1 is yet to arrive on the grid – which it will do in 2026 via a takeover of Sauber – yet big investment deals are already being sealed, and as it turns out, Mercedes F1 team one-third owner and principal Toto Wolff was there to watch the parties sign on the dotted line, in a moment which may have been captured by the Netflix ‘Drive to Survive’ cameras.

The hit docuseries has been credited for triggering the huge popularity boost enjoyed by Formula 1, with season seven on its way in 2025.

“There was an amusing aside in Doha in the fancy Four Seasons Hotel where Toto Wolff and Netflix were doing a little extra-paddock fly-on-the-wall filming, during which Toto spotted a sign which said “QIA Signing Ceremony”,” writes respected F1 correspondent Joe Saward.

“Recognising what this meant, the cheeky Wolff opened the door and walked in to find Audi boss Gernot Döllner signing a contract with QIA officials. You could not make this stuff up… Small wonder information gets out if you signpost secret signing ceremonies.”

F1 team ownership explained

👉 Explained: Who owns each Formula 1 team after Qatar confirm Audi purchase

👉 Explained: The 2026 engine regulations set to seriously shake up Formula 1

Döllner, CEO of AUDI AG and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sauber Motorsport AG, said this deal “will accelerate the team’s growth”, with Audi F1 boss Mattia Binotto recently offering an insight into the ongoing work to get Audi ready for their F1 2026 entry.

Audi F1 will be a works team, running its own power unit, though Binotto expects that they will start at a deficit on that front compared to rivals, with Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda and Red Bull-Ford to join Audi F1 as engine manufacturers when the new regulations arrive that year.

“The engine is progressing well, running on the dyno, some long distances so far already performed,” said Binotto.

“But I think here as well, it’s a learning process. We are competing with other organisations where manufacturers are settled down, are very expert, got a fantastic background, experience from the past years. The regulation is changing, but certainly, all the experience you’ve done so far is pretty important and valid.

“So while I think the organisation there is great, the facilities are great, the programmes are going ahead, still there is a learning curve which needs to be done. So I’m expecting initially to have a gap to recover. How big it will be, I think that you can never know.

“That only by the time we will be on track that we can only understand. But we’ve got more than a year from now to then.

“There is an intense programme on the dynos in development and it will be our task to make sure that we can enforce it, speeding up as much as we can, but try to be as competitive as we can be at the start of 2026.”

Sauber are currently bottom of the F1 2024 Constructors’ Championship standings, though Zhou Guanyu scored their first points of the season in Qatar with a P8 finish.

Read next: Toto Wolff reveals GM caveat despite ‘no-brainer’ arrival verdict