Hollywood stars and Wrexham owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney will be involved in Formula 1 in the future. As announced by Renault, parent company of the French F1 team Alpine, the acting duo now holds almost a quarter of the shares. Ex-racing driver Eddie Jordan was incredulous and harshly criticized the deal.
Three investors have joined the Formula 1 racing team Alpine: Maximum Effort Investments around the actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney as well as Otro Capital and RedBird Capital Partners have put a total of 200 million euros into their hands, for a total of 24 percent of the Formula 1 racing team Acquire Alpine.
The UK-based French team valued the investment at “around US$900 million,” according to the statement.
Meanwhile, the deal only includes the Formula 1 team, the engine department in Viry-Châtillon “is not part of the transaction,” confirmed the Renault group. Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi described the alliance as an “important step to improve our performance at all levels”.
Eddie Jordan: “It’s absurd. It’s ridiculous”
The first reactions in the world of Formula 1 were not positive everywhere. Ex-racing driver Eddie Jordan was completely surprised at the TV channel GB News: “I couldn’t believe it. First of all I don’t want to talk about ‘fake news’, but I think that from an accounting point of view it’s absolutely impossible – the financial model is not consistent.”
It is “very nice and sexy to name these numbers, but they have to be documented and approved,” said the 75-year-old. “And I find it odd in itself to be valuing something of this magnitude at a gross value of £700m. It’s absurd. It’s ridiculous.”
Those numbers were more likely to be expected from Formula 1 teams such as Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull, but not from Alpine.
Reynolds and McElhenney took over the traditional Welsh football club Wrexham AFC in February 2021 for the equivalent of 2.8 million euros. Last April, the club returned to English professional football after a 15-year hiatus.
Alpine, which is in fifth place in the team classification this season, wants to catch up with the top Formula 1 teams around Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari in the overall classification. The financial injection from Hollywood should further support this endeavor.