Ryan Reynolds’ Alpine investment explained as fans hail ‘stunning’ Belgian GP livery

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Alpine have unveiled a special Deadpool & Wolverine-themed livery for the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend. Ryan Reynolds has used his influence within the team to exploit a marketing opportunity at Spa.

Alpine normally race with a predominantly black car featuring shades of blue and pink. But for the 14th round of the season, the blue and the pink have given way to a Deadpool-themed red.

There are also yellow ‘claw marks’ at the rear of the car as a nod to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. The Marvel blockbuster, which releases on Friday in the UK, marks Reynolds’ third appearance in the role and a hotly-anticipated on-screen reunion with Jackman.

In a sporting sense, Alpine come into the weekend in desperate need of an improvement. The last two races have been utterly miserable for the Enstone outfit.

At Silverstone, Pierre Gasly wasn’t even able to take the start after encountering an issue on the formation lap. Teammate Esteban Ocon could only manage 16th.

Then in Hungary last time out, there were flashbacks to the start of the season as Alpine locked out the back row of the grid after a qualifying misjudgement. Gasly would retire from the race, while Ocon crossed the line second from last.

Ryan Reynolds Alpine investment explained after Deadpool livery unveiled

Last summer, Hollywood actor Reynolds fronted a group of celebrity investors who poured €200m (£168m) into Alpine. His company, Maximum Effort Investments, combined with RedBird Capital Partners and Otro Capital to acquire a 24% stake in the team.

Reynolds has enjoyed success since acquiring Wrexham Football Club alongside fellow actor Rob McElhenney in 2020. The Welsh club will play in League One, the third tier of English football, this season after achieving back-to-back promotions.

The 47-year-old then ventured into Formula 1, and some of the world’s biggest athletes have since joined him at Alpine. That group includes golfer Rory McIlroy, footballer Trent Alexander-Arnold, boxer Anthony Joshua and NFL players Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes.

F1 fans have certainly expressed their approval for the team’s one-off Belgian GP design. @walkingleaf79 called it an ‘awesome’ effort and said they’d bought a ticket for the film, while @nourkatrib92 dubbed it ‘amazing’.

“Damn this looks stunning,” @extremecars__ wrote, with @sangsterpromise raving about the ‘gorgeous’ paintwork. @ryujin_067 thinks the A524 looks ‘so beautiful’ in this guise, and @SerenityJaded added that ‘this livery is a winner’.

Ryan Reynolds net worth

According to Marca, Reynolds boasts a net worth of $350m, or around £271m, as of March 2024. But those resources alone won’t be enough to turn Alpine around.

The team have been through a crisis in the past year or so, with CEO Laurent Rossi, team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane headlining a prolonged exodus of key personnel. They began the year with the slowest car on the grid.

While they have since improved, they’ve still only scored nine points with more than half the campaign gone. That leaves them eighth in the constructors’, only ahead of Williams and Sauber.

Significantly, Alpine are about to forfeit their works team status. They’re close to agreeing an engine deal with Mercedes, which will make them a customer like McLaren.