Someone has bid for Otro Capital's 24 per cent of Alpine, and Flavio Briatore has seized on the number to argue the Enstone operation is worth far more than the published figures suggest.
Otro's investor group - Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Rory McIlroy and Anthony Joshua among the names attached - paid roughly 200million euros for the holding in June 2023, valuing the team near $900m at the time. Forbes has it at $2.45bn today. Briatore, speaking to Darren Cox for The Race Business, does not accept that.
"No, no, we are more," he said. "We have an offer, we have an [offer] for the 24 per cent of Otro, the valuation [is] 3.2 [billion]. So we have 40% of the valuation of Renault. All [of] Renault is worth 8.3. And we're working at this 3.5 [billion] valuation. So we're representing 40% or 50%."
The implication is remarkable: an F1 team approaching half the worth of the manufacturer that owns it. Briatore, who at various points in the 1990s held stakes in Benetton, Ligier and Minardi, framed the escalation from personal experience.
"I sold my share in Benetton, and the value of the team was $80million," he said. "OK, now you're talking about $3.5billion, $4billion. And everybody's predicting, you're talking with these finance people, talking about, 'OK, Formula 1 in three, four years, the team is worth $10billion.'"
Whether that curve has peaked drew a typically direct answer. "If the team was mine, I'd have sold already!" he joked.
The obstacle is not the money but the gatekeeper. Renault retains approval rights over any transfer of Otro's shares until September 2026, and Christian Horner - hunting equity rather than another pit wall role - is understood to have tabled a bid. Renault Group CEO Francois Provost has been unambiguous.
"There is no discussion today with Christian," Provost told the Press Association in June. "We are assessing the options. I want the Renault Group to keep the control of our team, whoever could be the successor of Otro."
He also insisted the sale process is a boardroom matter rather than a racing one. "The first one is that this Otro issue doesn't impact us at all as a team because we are in control," Provost said. "And the second point is that we will keep control of our Formula 1 team. Alpine is an independent team, and we intend to keep control."
Briatore treats the September date as far less of a cliff edge than the coverage implies, on straightforwardly commercial grounds: a minority holding at that price only makes sense for a buyer who is already aligned with the majority owner.
"Not really my problem, this is more the issue of Renault," he said. "Sure, to have a partner, of 24%, I expect somebody to give not only the finance, [but to] give some help in technology or whatever, or whatever in finance. But in September, I don't think nothing [will] happen dramatically, because I see it as very difficult for somebody to buy 24% of one company, with no agreement with the majority. I never see somebody spend 600 million to buy a minority, to be signed as partner, if you don't agree with the majority."
As for who ends up holding the shares, he was indifferent. "Renault is negotiating. For the team point of view, for me, it makes no difference. We have Otro, now tomorrow we have somebody else."
Provost has elsewhere called Renault's relationship with Otro "not successful", which explains the seller's urgency. The open question is whether a buyer exists at $600m-$900m for a quarter of a team whose parent has spent the year repeating that control is not on the table. Mercedes examined the same stake in May and walked away over price.
