Formula 1 · Business & Ownership

Renault’s Blunt Verdict on Alpine’s Hollywood Shareholders: “Not Successful”

Ryan Reynolds, Patrick Mahomes and Rory McIlroy bought into Alpine promising star power and commercial magic. Renault’s new CEO has now delivered the corporate obituary — and explained why he’s in no rush to replace them.

When Otro Capital bought 24% of Alpine’s Formula 1 team in 2023, the deal was sold on more than money. The investment consortium arrived trailing a constellation of celebrity backers — actor Ryan Reynolds, golfer Rory McIlroy, NFL stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce among them — and the promise that Hollywood glamour would supercharge the team’s media reach, marketing and commercial growth. Three years on, Renault’s chief executive has delivered the bluntest possible assessment of what that star power actually contributed to running a Formula 1 team: nothing.

“No right, and no added value”

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Race at the British Grand Prix, Renault CEO Francois Provost dismantled the premise of the partnership in a few short sentences — and in doing so, explained why he feels no pressure whatsoever over the drawn-out saga of Otro’s exit.

We manage the team. Otro has no right, and no added value, to help us to operate. So we are fully responsible. We are doing the job. The partnership with Otro was not successful. — Francois Provost, Renault CEO

The subtext is pointed. Otro’s stake was never an operational one — but the entire pitch of the 2023 deal was that its celebrity network would deliver value beyond the balance sheet. Provost’s verdict is that it didn’t, and that whatever happens to the shares, the team’s day-to-day reality is untouched: “They want to sell, they will get the good benefits. They need our agreement to sell, and we’ll do this maybe sooner or later, but from an operation standpoint, [there is] no impact.”

A sale Renault is happy to let stall

Otro’s attempt to cash out has been one of 2026’s longest-running off-track sagas. The consortium’s roughly $215-218 million investment has appreciated spectacularly with F1’s valuation boom — Otro has reportedly sought around $720 million for its holding, which would value Alpine at roughly $3 billion. A queue of suitors formed, headlined by two heavyweight names: Mercedes, whose interest carried obvious strategic weight given its new engine partnership with Alpine, and former Red Bull boss Christian Horner, seeking equity as his route back into the paddock.

Then, in May, Mercedes walked away — with valuation expectations understood to be the sticking point. Renault, which holds a right of veto over any change of ownership until September, responded by freezing all sale discussions entirely. Provost’s explanation of that intervention doubles as a statement of principles for whatever comes next.

For me, there is no urgency. There are two principles. The first one is Renault will keep the control. We do not intend to sell shares. The second principle is, if ever Otro sells the shares, I want to be sure that with the new one we have some intimacy, common goal, and common interest. So it’s why I’m not in a hurry. — Francois Provost, Renault CEO

Reading between the lines on Mercedes and Horner

Provost’s insistence on “added value” from any future minority partner is more revealing than it first appears. Renault is understood to have seen genuine appeal in the benefits Mercedes involvement could have brought, while a figure like Horner would have carried his own weight of racing expertise. The message to whoever eventually acquires Otro’s stake is clear: passive capital with a famous face attached is precisely what Renault no longer wants. The next shareholder must bring “intimacy, common goal, and common interest” — a description that reads like the inverse of the arrangement now ending.

The bigger commitment behind the criticism

Provost’s willingness to speak so freely also settles a question that has hung over Alpine since he replaced Luca de Meo as Renault CEO in July 2025: whether the new leadership might walk away from Formula 1 altogether, particularly after the bold decision to shutter Renault’s works engine programme in favour of customer Mercedes power. His answer was unequivocal — “F1 is by far the biggest sporting event, all categories included” — citing the sport’s 800 million-plus followers and growing young audience as reasons a “veteran” brand like Renault must stay and recover its rightful position.

The recovery itself, he stressed, is about foundations rather than speed. After Alpine finished last in the 2025 constructors’ championship, the team sits fifth in 2026 — though only a single point ahead of a surging Racing Bulls. Provost’s target is points at every race and what he calls “robustness of the recovery” over quick wins: “We know also we stay humble, we know also what we have still to do.”

• Alpine finished last in the 2025 constructors’ standings before its switch to Mercedes power for 2026.
• The team scored a double points finish at Silverstone but described the weekend as “damage limitation”.
• Otro’s celebrity roster also included Rob McElhenney and Michael B. Jordan at various points of the investment.
• Any sale completed after September would no longer require Renault’s approval — a deadline both sides are watching.

The irony of the whole affair is that Otro’s investment will almost certainly go down as a financial triumph — a potential tripling of its money in three years, purely on the rising tide of F1 valuations. But Provost’s verdict reframes what that success actually was: a bet on the sport’s growth, not a contribution to it. As Alpine rebuilds around Mercedes power and a stabilised structure, Renault’s message to the next investor is unmistakable — the era of shareholders who only show up in the team photo is over.