Mercedes bid to buy Alpine could be stopped by F1 rivals and the FIA

Mercedes

Mercedes bid to buy Alpine could be stopped by F1 rivals and the FIA

Toto Wolff has revealed that he does not want a junior

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 25 March 2026 08:59

Mercedes have been linked with purchasing a stake in their F1 rivals Alpine, and negotiations have been confirmed to be taking place.

But why are Mercedes allowed to do this, and how might their other rivals stop them?

While Toto Wolff has rejected the idea of Mercedes acquiring a 'junior team' in a Red Bull-Racing Bulls style partnership, Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore confirmed at the Chinese Grand Prix that negotiations were ongoing for Mercedes to buy a 24 per cent stake in the Enstone-based outfit.

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Alpine recently entered into a power unit partnership with Mercedes for the first time, ditching their previous Renault partners after the closure of their engine building plant.

But one of Alpine's shareholders - Otro Capital - are looking to sell at least part of their 24 per cent ownership in the team, and that has led to rumours of some Mercedes or Wolff involvement in a deal, or even a third party hijacking.

Briatore claimed that Wolff was not involved in the negotiations despite having some cash lying around having sold part of his Mercedes stake late last year, but that the Mercedes F1 team as a whole could be set to invest their funds.

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Why are Mercedes allowed to buy Alpine?

Put simply, it's because there is nothing in the rules that stops them from doing so.

It is not a majority stake in the team, Mercedes would only own 24 per cent of Alpine through this deal.

They could easily prove that they are not having significant say in the decision-making of the team when it comes to car design and personnel decisions, and that this deal would simply be to strengthen their partnership with a power unit customer.

Wolff has already definitively revealed that Mercedes are not after a junior team to develop talent, saying at the Chinese GP: "No. And I’m telling you in capital letters: NO. We don’t want to have a junior team. End of story."

Should they be allowed?

Despite the fact that some fans might not like the idea of one team owning part of another F1 team, Mercedes' proposed 24 per cent stake in Alpine would be a lot less of a partnership than what Red Bull and Racing Bulls currently have.

Drivers, team principals and other team personnel 'graduate' straight up from the Racing Bulls team to Red Bull, ensuring they are tried and tested and ready to help propel the Milton Keynes-based outfit into championship contention.

Red Bull has 100 per cent ownership of Racing Bulls, with the Faenza-based outfit being entirely owned and controlled by the Austrian energy drink company.

Former Red Bull GmbH owner Dietrich Mateschitz purchased the Minardi team at the end of the 2005 season, which was Red Bull's first year in the sport as a constructor.

It meant that by 2006, Red Bull had a junior team which they opted to call Toro Rosso to begin with, before it later became AlphaTauri, and then Racing Bulls.

Will they be stopped in the future?

While the recent Concorde Agreement in the sport has not outlawed team partnerships and ownerships, there was a lot of discussion around Red Bull and Racing Bulls' partnership before the signing of the document which runs until the end of 2030.

When the FIA sits down with the teams for that next iteration of the agreement for 2031 onwards, it's likely that it will be another hot topic of conversation.

The A/B partnership between Red Bull and Racing Bulls could therefore be halted in the future, while that might in turn prevent partnerships such as Mercedes' proposed part-ownership of Alpine.

F1 Mercedes Toto Wolff Alpine Flavio Briatore