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The Audi Formula One team have confirmed a multi-year deal with Adidas that sees the German sportswear manufacturer become their official apparel partner.
Starting from the 2026 season, the deal will see a range of equipment supplied to the drivers, mechanics, engineers, and other team members at the track. As part of the agreement, the two parties will collaborate on a line of apparel, footwear and accessories to be released to the public before the first race of next year.
Audi team principal Jonathan Wheatley, who has a rich background in engineering having first entered Formula One in the early 1990s, said he was impressed by Adidas’ attention to detail.
“My focus is on people and performance and getting the best out of our people,” he told BlackBook Motorsport. “In order to do that, you need to have the right apparel. You need to have the right clothing range designed for the function of your role, and what I’ve been hugely encouraged by here is the thought process that’s gone into each and every person and what their role requires.
“Each person is an athlete and the range of clothing that we have for the team next year is extraordinary.”
As rumoured since the middle of last season, Adidas will now supply two teams on the Formula One grid, adding to its existing deal with fellow German team Mercedes.
With Adidas set to lose its role as the official kit supplier of the German national soccer teams to Nike from 2027, one viewpoint could be that Adidas is striving to align itself with national pride by supplying the two German teams in Formula One.
However, Michael Batz, general manager of Adidas Motorsport, suggested that it was a coincidence that the company had ended up with two German teams.
“We do less than ten per cent [of business] in purely German-speaking [countries], we’re a global company,” he said. “We’re looking for global attention, we’re looking for global partnerships.”
Even so, there is a key reason that the company has decided now is the time to double down on its Formula One presence. When asked which market was most of interest, Batz responded that there was “no doubt” it was the US market due to the “big potential” in the country thanks to its three races on the Formula One calendar.
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Batz was also aware that the company’s focus cannot be solely on the US for this to be a successful partnership, and expects one of Audi’s drivers for next season to help it engage with fans in other markets.
“The Latin American market is crazy when it comes to Formula One,” he said. “With Gabriel Bortoleto you have a Brazilian driver so we are looking to utilise that together and find stories which are resonating with the different types of consumers around the world.”
Batz acknowledged that this is why “you can’t necessarily say it’s only one market you can focus on”, having also pointed to opportunities the partnership will create in other key territories like China. But it’s clear that Formula One’s increased visibility in the US was a big driver for Adidas’ return to motorsport.
Netflix can take a lot of credit for this boom in popularity thanks to its Drive to Survive docuseries, which has contributed to a new generation of fans following motorsport – and not necessarily ones that are interested in motor racing.
“It opened up additional new consumer groups with not only the motorheads and the people who used to watch,” said Batz. “We’re looking now into new consumers, younger consumers, more female fans as well, but also the occasional ones [who] are taking pride in being connected to motorsport.”
Adidas has also found that the community spirit of Formula One, which sees fans of every team sitting together in the stands, presents a vastly different audience to what it is used to in soccer, for example.
With Audi being new to the grid, Adidas has a rare opportunity to help build the team’s identity from day one, which will enable it to tap into the fandom around the team.
“Next year, all 11 teams obviously have the desire to win, but all of them need to look into their own DNA and what they want to stand for, what they want to bring on board in terms of fan attraction,” Batz said.
“This is what is attractive for us, to find a certain proposition to work together with Audi, what they want to stand for, how the team philosophy is, what are the values and what is the target group in terms of fans to be acquired – and mainly a younger, more fashion-driven aspect to translate from the performance side into the cultural.”
That sentiment was echoed by Stefano Battiston, chief commercial officer of Sauber Motorsport and the Audi Formula One team, who is acutely aware of the opportunity of building a new team from scratch.
“It’s quite unique that you have this once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring a new team to life with such a powerful brand like Audi coming to the sport and then combining it with Adidas,” Battiston explained.
“We want to be the team that brings F1 to the people, that creates that community with the power of these two huge brands, with the power of our title partner Revolut. But we need to build from zero.”
Audi’s lack of previous brand association with Formula One will allow Adidas to be more creative in its approach, which has added to the sense of optimism surrounding the team next season.
Adidas joins the aforementioned financial technology company Revolut and BP as major partners of the team, which is taking a more selective approach that is at odds with the commercial strategies of other teams on the grid.
According to Wheatley, this all points towards a team that is setting its sights at the very top of the sport – although with a large runway for success.
“We’re a team in transformation, we’re looking at finding the right partners to take us on the ambitious journey,” he said. “We have to be winning world championships at the end of the century.
“We want true partnerships, we want to be involved with great brands. Look at Adidas, Audi, Revolut – these are all fantastic brands to be working with and it just shows the level of ambition in our teams and in our partnerships.”
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