Peter Bayer is an Austrian motorsport executive who serves as CEO of the Racing Bulls Formula 1 team. Born Peter Anton Bayer on 6 April 1971, he came to F1 not from engineering or racing but from sports administration and governance — a background that makes him an unusual figure at the head of a Grand Prix team. ¹²

Early career in sport

Bayer began professionally in winter sports, working with the International Snowboard Federation, and in 2002 founded VIA3 Communications, a consultancy focused on youth engagement in sport and culture. He moved into the Olympic movement as CEO of the inaugural 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, also working with the International Olympic Committee, and was awarded the Olympic Order in 2013 for that work. He later managed commercial activities for the IMOCA Globe Series in offshore sailing. ¹²

“Peter Bayer is an Austrian motorsport executive who serves as CEO of the Racing Bulls Formula 1 team.”

FIA and Formula 1 governance

In 2017 Bayer was appointed FIA Secretary General for Sport under president Jean Todt, and he also served as Executive Director of the Formula One World Championship. In those roles he was central to some of the sport's most consequential off-track work of the era: leading negotiations on the commercial and governance terms of the Concorde Agreement, developing the 2026 power unit regulations, and overseeing the introduction of the F1 cost cap. These were among the most far-reaching structural reforms F1 has undertaken, reshaping how teams are financed and how the sport's revenues are shared. ¹²

Move to Red Bull

Bayer left the FIA in 2022, briefly advising Audi on its planned Formula 1 entry, before joining Red Bull in 2023 as CEO of Scuderia AlphaTauri. The team was subsequently rebranded — via Visa Cash App RB — to Racing Bulls, and Bayer's arrival was part of a planned transition to succeed long-time team boss Franz Tost, initially paired with Laurent Mekies as Team Principal. ¹²³

Remit at Racing Bulls

As CEO, Bayer oversees the commercial, structural and strategic side of the team and is the executive above the sporting operation. Team Principal Alan Permane reports to him, and the two have led the squad's preparation for F1's all-new 2026 era. Bayer's governance background — and his intimate familiarity with the 2026 rules he helped write — make him an unusually well-placed administrator to position the team for the regulatory reset. He has also been a public advocate for Racing Bulls establishing its own identity rather than being seen purely as Red Bull's junior team. ³

Why he matters

Bayer is a governance-and-business executive rather than a racer, whose fingerprints are on the very rules now reshaping F1. At Racing Bulls he provides commercial leadership and continuity, freeing Permane to concentrate on the racing side. The clean division of labour — Bayer on strategy and structure, Permane on the trackside operation — is the organisational model the team carried into 2026. ¹³

Bottom line

Bayer brings rare administrative and regulatory pedigree to a team in transition: an Olympic and FIA background, deep knowledge of F1's financial and technical rulebooks, and a mandate to build Racing Bulls into a self-standing operation under the new regulations. ¹³