Mercedes has withdrawn from negotiations to buy a minority stake in Alpine after deciding the price was too high, leaving the sale of the team’s 24 per cent share in limbo. The move narrows the field of bidders at a moment when the market for Formula 1 assets remains hot and Alpine’s ownership structure is under fresh scrutiny.
The interest had only become public earlier this year, but the pace of the talks changed sharply this week. Mercedes, which is set to supply Alpine engines for the 2026 season, had been exploring an investment in the Enstone team’s minority holding, only for the valuation to become the sticking point. Sky Sports understands the stake owned by Otro Capital is worth about €700m (£606.3m), while Mercedes values Alpine at €3bn (£2.6bn), a gap that helped push it out of the process.
Flavio Briatore, who addressed the situation at the Chinese Grand Prix, said Alpine had “three or four potential buyers” and stressed that the talks were about the Otro shares rather than the team itself. “Every day is a new situation,” he said, adding that the negotiations were with Mercedes, not Toto Wolff personally. “It’s the share owned by this hedge fund, it’s called Otro, American fund. They want to sell the 24 per cent and a few candidates are ready to do the deal.”
That framing matters because Mercedes was not seeking control of Alpine, only a slice of the minority stake held by Otro Capital, which bought its 24 per cent in 2023 for €200m (£173.2m). Renault Group still owns the remaining 76 per cent, and the sale of the smaller holding has become a separate test of appetite for one of F1’s better-known teams. In April, McLaren chief executive Zak Brown criticised multi-team ownership in the sport, a backdrop that makes any fresh investment in a rival operation more delicate.
A consortium linked to former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner remains interested, and that is now the name worth watching as Mercedes steps aside. With one bidder gone and Briatore still talking about multiple candidates, the unresolved question is not whether Alpine can attract money, but which buyer is prepared to meet the price that Mercedes would not.
