Audi has signed a big-money sponsorship deal with Adidas for 2026 – just a year after its German automotive rival Mercedes brought the sportswear brand into Formula 1.
Ahead of this season, Mercedes announced that it had successfully fought off a number of rivals to secure what it said was a “groundbreaking” multi-year deal with Adidas to become an official team partner.
Adidas’ famous three stripes are featured on this year’s Mercedes team kit and racing overalls. A bespoke silver cooling jacket used by George Russell and Kimi Antonelli before the start of races also became a big talking point earlier in the year.
While Mercedes has had an exclusive association with Adidas for this season, that situation is going to change for 2026 as Adidas expands its influence across the grid.
On Wednesday, Audi announced that it had signed a multi-year deal with Adidas to become its official apparel partner.
The deal will include the release of exclusive clothing collections as well as equipment for drivers, mechanics, engineers and other team members.
Speaking about the new deal, Audi team principal Jonathan Wheatley said: “This partnership brings together two iconic brands – the four rings and the three stripes – on a global stage and it represents a bold step forward in our journey to the grid as the Audi F1 Team.”
Audi CEO Gernot Dollner said that the partnership with Adidas made total sense considering how the two brands had worked together in the past in other categories.
“Adidas and Audi have decades of collaboration in top-level sports – built on shared values and the desire to inspire through performance,” he said.
“Our partnership in Formula 1 goes far beyond the pursuit of innovation and peak performance: it combines the strengths and visions of two progressive brands.”
The Mercedes deal was Adidas’s first official entry into F1 as a sponsor, with its logos and branding having previously appeared through minor personal deals it had with Michael Schumacher or teams like Footwork and Larousse (below) in the 1990s.
Adidas had been on the hunt for a high-profile outlet for its company after losing its iconic sponsorship rights to the German national football team, with rival Nike having taken over that deal from 2027.
The Adidas deal is the second major partnership that the new Audi team has announced. In July, it revealed that its title sponsor would be fintech company Revolut.
