Acquisition of Alpine F1 minority shares
The story dates back to summer 2023, when a high-profile group of investors from Hollywood and the sports world acquired a 24% stake in Alpine F1. Otro Capital, backed by RedBird (led by Milan president Gerry Cardinale), actor Ryan Reynolds, NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes, world number two golfer Rory McIlroy, and footballer Trent Alexander-Arnold, injected around €200 million into the Enstone-based team. Despite Alpine’s disappointing on-track performance, this investment has already proven profitable, which could motivate some of the new investors to exit in the coming months.
Otro Capital may divest
According to Sport Business Journal, preliminary talks have begun in recent days to gauge interest from other parties in acquiring the 24% stake currently held by Otro Capital. Any sale, whether partial or complete, would likely result in a capital gain for the fund. At the time of purchase, Alpine was valued just under €900 million, while now nearly all F1 teams are worth well over a billion euros.
A potential opportunity for Christian Horner?
Although it has not yet been decided whether Otro Capital will sell its stake, and Renault retains a right of first refusal to prevent unwanted third parties from entering the team, paddock rumors suggest this could be an opening for Christian Horner. Alpine is reportedly looking for a new team principal following Oliver Oakes’ surprising departure last spring, and Horner has long-standing ties with Flavio Briatore, who returned to Alpine in mid-2024 to help guide the team ahead of the 2026 technical revolution.
Horner is said to be seeking a project where he can hold influence as a minority shareholder rather than returning as a regular employee. While this remains speculative for now, Alpine — with CEO François Provost recently reaffirming the group’s commitment to F1 — could potentially become the new platform for Horner to re-enter Formula 1 leadership.
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