Saudi Arabia owning F1 team “could happen soon”, says Prince Khalid

• PIF is heavily involved in Aston Martin F1 team through Aramco and Maaden
• Liberty reportedly rejected US$20bn takeover bid from PIF in January 2023

Saudi Arabia is open to the idea of buying a Formula One team as it looks to deepen its presence in the sport.

Ahead of this weekend’s race in Jeddah, Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal, the chairman of the kingdom’s automobile and motorcycle federation, revealed that the next step for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) could be the acquisition of a team

“It could happen, it could happen soon if you see the growth [of the sport],” he said, as reported by ESPN.

“If you are going to buy a Formula One team then people will buy it to make money out of it, especially if it’s going to be bought by one of the PIF. We see Formula One is reaching new markets, sales are globally increasing.

“It’s not easy to say which team to buy and how you’re going to manage it. But we have a lot of interest… we’re hosting Formula One, sponsoring teams. So I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an announcement for a Saudi team.”

Formula One team valuations have soared in recent years to an average of around US$2.3 billion, not that this will represent much of an obstacle for Saudi Arabia given its financial muscle.

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The Gulf state is already heavily involved with the Aston Martin Formula One team, with state-owned oil giant Aramco serving as title partner and mining company Maaden recently elevated to principal partner.

Aramco is also a global partner of Formula One itself, initially signing a deal in 2020.

PIF previously held shares in McLaren Group, but sold these to Mumtalakat, Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, in 2023.

Another sovereign wealth fund in the Middle East that has entered Formula One is the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which purchased a minority stake in the new Audi team in December 2024.

PIF, though, has been the most active in Formula One and was even linked with a takeover of the series itself.

Liberty Media purportedly rejected an approach in January 2023 worth more than US$20 billion, though Saudi Arabia’s sports minister dismissed the report as “purely speculation”. Liberty also ruled out a sale.

Saudi Arabia is currently one of the biggest growth markets for Formula One, with the series seeing a 25.5 per cent increase in fans following the sport in the kingdom over the last 12 months.

“Personally, I would like to see a Saudi team,” said Prince Khalid.

“But if Saudi Arabia or one of the Saudi companies will be involved in one of the teams, I would like them to do it the right way and be successful. It’s a tricky question, but why not?”