Alpine Faces a Sale That Changes Everything

Alpine F1 is on the brink of a move that could reset its future.

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Alpine’s celebrity-backed investor Otro Capital is in early talks to offload its 24 percent stake bought in 2023 for about $218m. Now? A profit is to be had; and if Renault reclaims the shares it tightens control right before the 2026 rules shift. As a result, could this be a sign that Renault has accepted its failure with Alpine and is about to begin anew on its own…or is this the next step for Christian Horner to move from Red Bull to Alpine…and good news for Franco Colapinto against Pierre Gasly?

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Alpine Faces a Sale That Changes Everything

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Well, looks like an Alpine investor is about to cash out and maybe make a tidy profit doing it. Could that maybe open the door for a certain person who’s not particularly fond with the algorithm right now? Or is this just yet another failure of Alpine? But maybe it could be for the best. Remember that curious 2023 buyin Renault arrange, the one with celebrity investors including Ryan Reynolds and Otro Capital leading the charge. Well, according to Sports Business Journal, Otro is now in early talks to offload its 24% stake bought for roughly $280 million at the time. Yes, of course, it’s very early days. They are talking about preliminary discussions. There’s nothing concrete as of yet. But the fact that it is being talked about in journals like this, which is not exactly mainstream, but more focused around sports business specifically, means there could be something to it and might be the catalyst for a certain someone to return in the middle of next year. Should things go south and Renault needs somebody to come in, some sort of a hero. But one thing is for sure, if Capital did sell at stake, it would first go back to Renault Group. After that, who knows? Without being now valued at roughly $1.5 billion according to an article by Blackput Motorsport, Otro State could now be worth around 360 million, a 60% bump in a little over 2 years. Yes, it’s not exactly the huge windfall that Papa Stroll would receive should he sell Aston Martin F1 team lock and barrel. He bought Force India for about 180 million and now Aston Martin could be worth upwards of nearly three billion. That’s uh that’s big. But I still think, you know, roughly $150 million for Autoro Capital, that’s still a tidy profit. And it is a sign that F1’s upswing is still alive and kicking. It may not be as potent as it was a few years ago after the Rooney Rona where F1 really made it big, but it’s still a sign that anyone that wants to invest in Formula 1 can still get a tidy summon return. And Liberty Media seems to be buying into its own hype because apparently Liberty Media might be spinning off its F1 side of things as well as Moto GP into its own company so it could focus on that solely. Everything else going under the term Liberty Live. It just goes to show there is still life in this motorsport yet. Yes, of course will get a sum. They haven’t exactly lost money with Alpine, but you got to be thinking that with Alpine the way it is right now, it’s a case of Formula 1 raising the tide for all boats and Alpine’s looking the smallest at the moment. This valuation of $1.5 billion, according to Blackbook Motorsport, did not come from the fact that Alpine did really well the last couple of years. No, Alpine’s paper valuation is literally entertainment economics. All coming from a reality show which has added hundreds of millions of dollars to every single team, failing or otherwise. It’s the kind of upside Wall Street understands better than wind tunnel data. And if America hadn’t taken an interest F1, I’m quite certain that at this point Alpine would have shuttered its doors by now. It’s now yet another legacy decision that has ended up on the scrap heap alongside the 5-year plan, the 100 Grand Prix plan and the fact that Oscar Pastri will be leading them post Fernando Alonzo. this now the capital thing included because of what he was trying to do to try and sell Alpine cars to American audiences and anyone in America have you seen an Alpine A110 or otherwise that is not an import car and I think it’s been a really big tell that the partnership that we’ve seen in recent times is not nearly as overt anymore you don’t see Ryan Reynolds popping to Grand Prix anymore but I’ve not noticed any special liveries associated with Reynolds or any other parties nothing. They have sporting celebrities and there’s not a lick of them in sight. The only special liies we’ve had this year from the team is either to do with their 70th anniversary Alpines, their traditional BWT pink at the start of the year, and now of course the yellow back of Mardo Libé whilst F1 toss the Americas. It just goes to show that I think the relationship between those two parties, Ultra and Alpine, has basically dissolved because things have changed quite considerably. The fact is Alpine is not the solid midfield team it once was when the deal was struck. It could easily change again next year, but many people look at the here and now and the here and now is like, “God, you’re 40 points behind Sala. How low have you fallen, man?” And that’s why I think all of the chatter of sales is starting to build itself up amongst all of those outlets which are more geared towards business transactions. It’s not necessarily hit the mainstream just yet. Just watch the next few days and you might see the likes of Planet F1 or Motorsport Week or Crash.net and what have you. I do frequent many of those outlets by the way. And also, I think many of the sporting celebrities that were associating themselves with Alpine are not exactly excited being associated with them anymore because it’s a dead dining table topic. It’s like, “Oh, hey honey. How did your team do today? Oh, they didn’t score a point again. They were dead last.” it rebranding itself shortly as SA’s sort of Chimera project. It being mostly owned by Renault and yet it won’t be supplying its own engines anymore. Mercedes will. It’s a more overt representation of the recently spun down partnership that Mercedes, Nissan, and Renault had regarding various vehicles to try and cut down costs. And the irony is really brutal. 20 years ago, Fernando Alonzo was beating Mercedes powered McLaren cars. Now we fast forward to today. Renault are now buying engines from one of their biggest rivals at the heyday of Alonzo’s power. That’s akin to Apple buying parts from Samsung. Yes, it’s efficient and it does help your bottom line, but it’s not exactly admitting that you were able to do everything yourself locktock and barrel. And it’s also an indicator of how low Alpine’s ambitions have sunk. And even though the talk of the sale is still ongoing and it could mean that this is the end of their American dream or at least the plan A version, it still makes me think that Alpine believes that America matters. But now maybe in a different way. Maybe the Americas matter. Not only wanting to capitalize on the supposed 125 American sponsors F1 has amongst itself and teams, but also representation from other continents within the Western Hemisphere. But the potential sale marks that the first attempt to build a US commercial footprint for Alpine and its cars is shriveling up in real time and now pretty much is being read its last rights. I’m not going to lie, when that deal was struck a couple of years ago, I was very confused as to why, except for the fact that, oh, is this some kind of superficial thing amongst celebrities? Because celebrities have become really, really important. Even though at the same time, celebrities and Formula 1 have been associated with each other since the 1960s. Let’s not forget that. Well, it’s now become a little bit clearer with the article I found is that Alpine wanted to sell its own sports cars in America. Renault wanted to try and broach a various subsection of cars with its own little brand that we have seen amongst Europe because I still find that commercial really funny on Sky Sports about, you know, oh, adults pay bills and bills suck. Sure, we got a driver’s license. They very much like to build themselves upon speed and likeness. very much taking on the torch of what Lotus used to be. I mean, I don’t know what Lotus is doing right now. They believe in lightness, but they now make 2 and a half ton SUVs. I don’t think Colin Chapman would approve of that. Do you? But then they closed down their offices in trying to attract more American sponsors than they already have. And then their ambitions of selling cars completely hit a wall, most likely down to the T-word tariffs. But they do want to sell cars there eventually. But I think it’s mainly the team needs to go back to the drawing board. And here’s a fun fact for you. This is not the first time Renault’s tried to make it big in the US car market because back in the 80s they did collaborate and have some sort of alliance with AMC to make uh well the Renault Alliance. This car supposedly trying to break America open with the aptly named car. It then ended a few years later with Chrysler buying AMC outright and Renault pulling out of the US market entirely. 40 years later, they’re trying the same play with a different badge, the sporty one, and the same blind spot, misunderstanding how Americans buy prestige. Because sure, Alpine does have a pedigree that goes back decades. I myself do highly rate the A110, and it would be in my own dream garage as a little runaround with a little bit of poke. But still, people are very much confusing. How do you say the word Alpine? Is it Alpine? Is it Alpine? because they still say Renault, but then they’re trying to chase the legacy of what Porsche has. But then again, sometimes some people confuse Porsche with Porsche. It’s Porsche. So, okay, what can you infer from all of this? The original plan under Renault Power and the 2025 development path didn’t work and the minority partners might want to get out, which might explain why we see more of a focus on various other sponsors, including Gastley’s ties as an ambassador to watchmaker H Moa and Colinto’s tie to his sponsors and Micardo Libre. And this is just yet another continuation of all the course corrections that we have seen with Alpine trying to lock itself down to something more long-term. the new CEO of Renault Group committing themselves to the Formula 1 team. Pierre Gassley signing a long-term deal through 2028. And Colinto, well, if all the rumors are to be believed, he might have done enough to secure a seat for at least next year going into the second year of his 5-year association with the team. And maybe if Otra Capital is looking to sell its stake in the team, it might be some kind of purge of trying to get rid of all of the foibless and misdirection and mishaps of the old Alpine and then start completely new with everything inhouse and then go from there again and then maybe try and reboot its efforts in trying to break the American market again. Yeah, okay. It’s not massive news like a full sale would be, such as the reports we saw from VCarb getting multiple suitors on its doorstep. some valuations northwards of $2.3 billion or maybe a star driver jumping teams, but I think it’s pretty meaningful. It confirms that Alpine might be admitting its past failures and wants to stop drifting. This should be seen as a good thing. Picking their own lane, they’re going to stay in that lane hopefully and means they can now draw a line of all the mistakes that we’ve seen from them since they became Alpine, since Daniel Ricardo left Enston for good. I pin a lot of the maladies of that team to when Daniel left that organization. And again, I was really not impressed with Renault selling a part of its own Formula 1 team to an outside firm. It felt like it was going to be some sort of a cash grab for Renault to generate a little bit more money to help maybe prop up Nissan or whatever or what have you, capitalizing on F1’s popularity and not really taking its place in F1 seriously anymore, even though the mark has been associated with the sport for non half a century. And it even brushed up against my old hi-tech theory which I really thought was going somewhere. You know the one where I thought that Renault was eventually going to be bought out and become high-tech for 2026 with Oliver Oaks the team principal and associations allegedly with Dmitri Mazip and then Kazak multi-millionaire Vladimir Keem. But then, as we saw with various things and Oliver Oaks making an exit stage right and never been seen since, that completely died to death and Renault hit the panic button and decided, well, if you want something done right, do it yourself. Or at least until someone who’s got a little bit more skin in the F1 game comes along and maybe wants to buy a stake in the team. But more on that later. But you got to admit that where Alpine stands right now, it’s a pretty dire situation. They are by far the worst team this year. even though they are about to win the accolade of the best worst team because no one who’s been last in the constructors has scored that many points, a total of 20. You’ve also got a lead driver who may have decided to stick with them for a good while. So, they’ve at least got a leader in Bastion, but his hopes of driving for a full works team that he kept talking about for years is now up in smoke. He’s starting to now see momentum sway toward his younger teammate in regards to head-to-heads. And the gap in pace between the Argentinian and the Frenchman is shrinking rapidly now down to within two ten. And you know what? It’s a similar fate to what I think Esban Okon is experiencing over at H with Oliver Bman suddenly getting a huge swing in his direction and Esban Aon around Austin saying, “Guys, what are you doing to me?” I think Esteban was expecting that he would have an easy ride. He’d be the team leader. But now there’s talk about Oliver becoming the replacement of Lewis Hamilton. That Ferrari might kick Lewis to the curb or something and replace him with Oliver. I mean, I thought that was going to happen eventually, but I didn’t think the hype would start right now. I do want to talk about that, by the way. Not just the whole Oliver thing, but the fact that Esban’s being really taken for a ride and the news media sentiment is very much against the Frenchman and in favor of the British person. Not really much of a surprise in this current climate. But do let me know in the comments or maybe dropping a like or a subscribe if you want to see that in the future. Thank you. But then there’s the matter of who might be partnering Pierre Gastley next year as Alpine fully transforms itself into something more renocoded and yet not Rena. It’s a weird mix, isn’t it? Now, okay, I’m not here to tell you whether or not Alpine have definitely confirmed Franco Colipenta for 2026, but it does seem to me that the trend online is very much headed in that direction. There aren’t any official announcements, me going up the ladder to tell you that Franco is definitely confirmed, but it does very much feel like he is most likely going to be confirmed sometime soon, maybe as early as this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix. Because according to Flavia Briator, he is impressed with the last few races that Frank has had and that maybe he is satisfied that the uptick has deserved him at least to start 2026 with the team. you know, to maybe have the pre-season outings to really get to know the car and start the season properly instead of inheriting the seat from Jack Dan and then expecting to really hit the ground running. And even despite the brief rebellion that we saw from Franco around Austin, which I personally think Flavio really raided and that might have been part of sealing the deal that Franco’s got some guts, it certainly won him many, many fans online and really started to bring the momentum back toward him after many months of people really hating his guts. I really do sense the tide swaying back in Colipinto’s favor because I saw Tommo making a video about it. I’ve seen many more people talking about Franco and many people are now looking at the head-to-heads and some people even saying Franco I didn’t understand your game and that he is actually starting to give Pierre a little bit of a sweat all since we came back from the summer break despite the lack of points. But many people now starting to recognize well come on you can’t really score anything in that car. The last time it scored was the Belgian Grand Prix and even then that was a shocker around the power circuit. What? I think for that team it’s just a case of getting to the end of the year right now. So you might be still a Colinto skeptic. Why would you keep him? Easy. And no, it’s nothing to do with because I say so. Let’s start off with alignment with Alpine’s new real project next year. When the new power unit rules land and Alpine becomes a Mercedes customer, locking a known quantity before this year is out instead of dragging into the winter makes integration clearer for all of the preparations going into this real bet the farm situation. Renault’s really gambling a lot on this. So they need as much continuity or stability as they possibly can get. They are changing everything within that organization and they are bringing in a power unit which Pierre Gassley has no experience with. They need at least one driver who has at least seen a Mercedes power unit up close and personal. They thought they might have had that with Valkyrie Botass. They might have thought they had that with Czecho coming on board because remember he did drive Mercedes power units for quite a long while before Red Bull. Heck, they might have even actually putting Kimmy on a loan deal. But no, Franco, I think he’s a decent shout at least if you want to get that integration right from the ground up. Sure, it’s a slightly different power unit going into next year, but it’s better than nothing. And seriously, Renault is sacrificing a lot. They are sacrificing a really long legacy, one that has won them so many titles over the years to really try and think this is the thing that will get us back into the front running capacity with a brand that we really, really want to grow. Them buying into the Mercedes hype train is really important here because I personally think that Williams will want to go it alone in the coming years. They’ll want to become more independent as Valves really takes control. Aston Martin, they’re leaving for Honda. McLaren, they’re their own team. They will not take any crap from Mercedes at all in terms of directions. Alpine could easily and willingly be MercedesB team. And also, I think you would agree with me, Alpine just doesn’t want any drama whatsoever, darkening its doorsteps, and maybe them keeping the same two drivers would prevent any drama, at least in that department. And also, keeping Franco is kind of symbolic. An Argentinian driving a German powered car Manuel won of his titles in similar circumstances, you know. And there’s also commercial logic here that is impossible to ignore. And no, I am not saying Franco is a paid driver. He is not. Because these days, all drivers, if they want to get into F1, have to chase the bag or they have to have some sort of private investment coming from their parents in order to secure them some sort of chance of getting into Formula 1 or not really having to remortgage their own home. And Franco’s bag was relatively empty until recent times when YPF, Globand, and the like then filled it to the brim and then over capacity. It’s only a recent phenomena that Franco’s had the money to be able to go racing in Formula 1 and secure the funding to get the seat at Williams and then at Alpine. Also, Franco’s been part of a massive renaissance of South American interest in F1, something which I think belongs within the sport. Coupled with, of course, Gabrielle Bortalto’s strong rookie season for Sala and the fact that Raphael Kamara had a dominant F3 season and could be in Formula 1 in a few years, it means that sponsor interest from that continent has definitely surged. And Williams got a little bit of taste of that last year. Lemon, the French publication, noted the YPF angle all the way back in May of this year when Alpine first put him in the car. that being Franco which hints at the marketing upside of keeping him if performance meets the threshold which according to Flavio Briator himself he has very much met the threshold. It all very much ties back to the fact that Alpine wants to gain some traction in America and so far it’s really struggled whilst some of the other teams have really struck it lucky especially McLaren and it’s something they really need to get a lick on quite quickly because Formula 1 has finally broken that market quite convincingly and for a very long time after decades of struggling and failing and we might have reached the peak and it might all be downhill from here or it might have plateaued. Would Alpena be a little bit too little too late? Or might they have to reinterpret what their mission is to maybe do better in the Americas? So maybe as they’re regrouping and trying to gain some popularity in the USA, having a steady Latin American fan base might easily be a good substitution or potentially a really big alternative. So to keep Franco and Pierre together for at least one more year as the team navigates its new identity, that makes more sense. And it helps that Colinto is steadily gaining confidence in the car and the team itself and inadvertently began a trend in people starting to reacquaint themselves to him as well as all the chicaneery performing him in regards to team orders in past races most notably Zanford. So if does sell its 24% sly who could step in? Some have whispered about Christian her who’s reportedly been shopping around and reportedly been rebuffed multiple times mockingly so by the likes of team principal of Aston Martin Andy Cowl who potentially if Christian darkened their doorsteps would have had his job taken potentially by Christian. So of course he would say oh that is ridiculous I heard he’s ringing everybody that has a pulse. And then there’s also the fact that Alpine has supposedly rebuffed Christian in recent times at the Dutch Grand Prix. Flavio wished his good friend and colleague from back in the 2000s well, but that at that time there was no room in the inn over at Alpine. But maybe that was at the beginning of Otro maybe wanting to sell at stake and that maybe if Hornet came in, it might have complicated things that, you know, it’s best to secure a deal without any external forces mucking things up. Now, of course, that is a little bit of a foam of doubt moment there, but I just thought I would throw that in. Any qualified buyer can bid subject to Renault’s contractual rights and approval. They have the right to buy back the shares and then sell them on again. Practically though, it’s unlikely that Christian will darken Renault’s doorsteps unless they want her involved. And given their history together, it’s a bit of a tall order. Christian stopping at nothing at one point to pummel Renault into the dust, reputationally speaking, going as far to rub out any mention of that mark on his Red Bull cars prior to Honda’s arrival. At this point, Renault holds the cards here and it will be up to Christian her to play ball here if he wants to have an opportunity of buying into the team. He probably might have to make some imprivate apologies or maybe recognizing what Renault and Alpine are trying to do and then hopefully it could be water under the bridge akin to what Honda said about Fernando Alonzo that all the things he said about GP2 engines. Oh, that’s water under the bridge. They’ll work with him over at Aston Martin. But I think the damage that Christian did to that mark even though they gave him Carlos science, it’s going to be a really big ask to forget all that. And also from what I’ve seen of Renault, they really want to try this again on their own terms that they own the entire widget. They want to take this more seriously because the last few years has been anything but serious. It’s been one thing after another. Corporate meddling, absolute incompetence, rebellion. What is this? the French Ferrari. So maybe if Rena wants to bring anyone from the outside, it would have to be something that is a little bit more effective and provides returns a little bit more quickly commercially or operationally. You know, something a little bit more substantial than just getting a lot of celebrities or sports personalities to buy into the team. Maybe do some quick endorments to video and then that is that. Maybe something that has a little bit of experience in Formula 1, something that Darlton Capital has been able to help with Williams to great effect. Maybe something that could help Alpine really break into the car market, the sports car sector, and maybe make a name for itself. A horner mounted rescue bid is not impossible, but it’s up to Renault whether or not they actually want to hear him out. And right now, I don’t think they are willing to do that. They have got time because there are restrictions for involved at the moment. That means that Christian her can’t get himself involved in Formula 1 again until the middle of next summer. So maybe then we might hear something about him again. And it really might depend about which team is really in crisis mode. and they need somebody to help steer the ship at the beginning of the regulation cycle or if especially the Mercedes gamble didn’t turn out to be as good as they had hoped and they really need someone to come in and save them. And you might be thinking that this is yet another Alpine are incompetent video, but I don’t really think it’s that. I don’t think it’s a joke at all. This is a failure. Don’t get me wrong. This is an admittance from Alpine that what they did with that money and selling to this organization is not something that is going to be lasting long term. It didn’t give them the returns they hoped for, but it is something that is necessary. Next year is judgment day. Either the Mercedes deal and stable lineup give them a clean slate, or we learned that the rot ran deeper than engines or organization charts. Kind of like what we saw with McLaren back in 2018 when home truths were realized after the team could not simply blame Honda anymore for why they were flirting with the bottom of the order. So, consider this a little bit of positive news or speculation as to maybe Renault and Alpine taking things seriously when money is involved. This is not a case of France Provos saying, “Oh, we want to take things more seriously. We we’re committed to Alpine. We’re getting these reports of sales back to Renault and then they can decide who gets the shares next instead of private equity firms sharing it and buying amongst themselves.” The team might be serious in wanting to restore its reputation and maybe recognizing that with the power of Pierre Gastley and Franco Colipinto’s steady progress and improvement and maybe being able to match Gastly to have more consistent points results in the future especially if they’re back in the fourth fifth six area in the constructors then there could be good times ahead for this organization and maybe they could net a few more American sponsors that maybe this might be the end of corporate mismanagement that they might actually have something under the hood for next here. That might mean that they could no longer have to think of headaches regarding drama that they do not need. Because you got to think about it, every fall from grace could easily be the setup for the next comeback. But I can tell you there are no headaches over at this video right here that you can go and watch right now. I think you’ll really like it. I’ll see you over there.