Christian Horner F1 return gets major boost as Mercedes decision clears the way

Geri Halliwell-Horner and husband Christian Horner in F1 Bahrain paddock 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

Mercedes

Christian Horner F1 return gets major boost as Mercedes decision clears the way

Mercedes seem to have pulled out of the talks

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 30 May 2026 17:42

Christian Horner's bid to return to F1 has received a major boost with the news that Mercedes have pulled out of buying a stake in Alpine.

With Otro Capital understood to be looking to sell their 24 per cent stake in the Enstone-based outfit, a number of potential suitors have been rumoured to want in, including former Red Bull boss Horner, and Mercedes CEO Toto Wolff.

But Alpine's Flavio Briatore recently revealed that, although talks were ongoing with Mercedes, it was the F1 team as a whole that were interested, not just Wolff.

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Alpine and Mercedes recently entered into a power unit partnership, with Mercedes supplying Alpine, and that has helped Alpine to be much more competitive than they were in the last two seasons.

Mercedes pull out of buying Alpine stake

According to BBC Sport, however, the deal for Mercedes to buy Otro's 24 per cent stake in Alpine is now off, with Mercedes being put off by an eyewatering valuation.

According to the above publication, Otro want $720million for their shareholding, a figure that would value Alpine as a whole at $3billion.

Otro paid around $233million for the stake as recently as 2023, and Mercedes reportedly view Alpine as worth around $2.3billion. Which would mean the two parties are at least $150million apart in their negotiations.

How much are F1 teams worth?

The numbers being talked about just serve to emphasise the rapid growth in the values of F1 teams as the popularity of the sport continues to go stratospheric.

Ferrari emerged as F1’s wealthiest team in 2025, with Mercedes and McLaren just behind. Sportico reported that Ferrari are worth $6.4billion.

Mercedes earned the second highest valuation of $5.88billion and 2025 constructors’ champions McLaren emerged third with $4.73billion.

Position	Team	Valuation
1	Ferrari	$6.4bn
2	Mercedes	$5.88bn
3	McLaren	$4.73bn
4	Red Bull	$4.32bn
5	Aston Martin	$3.0bn
6	Williams	$2.14bn
7	Alpine	$2.08bn
8	Racing Bulls	$2.05bn
9	Sauber	$1.88bn
10	Haas	$1.68bn