Mercedes stands as Renault’s preferred bidder for Alpine stake

Mercedes is Renault’s preferred bidder to purchase a non-controlling stake in Alpine, but is yet to make a final decision on any investment.

Despite interest from a consortium including Christian Horner amongst others, RACER understands that Alpine owner Renault had outlined Mercedes as its preferred investor a number of months ago. The stake available is the 24 percent put up by Otro Capital, originally purchased in 2023 in a deal that valued Alpine around $900 million at the time. That figure that has increased substantially in recent years.

While Mercedes Grand Prix Limited – the company that owns the Mercedes F1 team, comprising Mercedes-Benz, Ineos and Toto Wolff – is exploring the investment, an agreement has yet to be reached on what that stake is now worth.

Mercedes already supplies Alpine with power units, having entered into an agreement to do so from this season onwards. Aside from the works team, its other customers are McLaren and Williams.

Recent comments from both McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem – who also stated his belief that Horner is missed in F1 – have voiced opposition to dual ownership within the sport, but sources on both sides of any potential deal have reiterated that Mercedes is exploring the investment from a purely financial perspective, and that talks are regarding a minority stake that would come with no controlling interest in the team.

“As long as you are not trying to take it because you don’t want others to take it, or also get voting power when it comes to the regulations, then maybe it’s OK,” Ben Sulayem is quoted as saying by City AM in Miami. “But then I do believe that owning two [teams] is not the right way – this is my personal point of view – but we are looking into that because it’s a complicated area.

“We put our people to see, is it possible? Is it allowed? Is it the right thing? There is something called a sporting side. If we lose the sporting spirit, I believe that there will not be any more support [from F1 fans]. So to me, I’m not with it 100%.”