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Toto Wolff and Mercedes’ decision to make a rival bid for a minority stake in Alpine against Christian Horner hasn’t gone down well with fans.
Wolff and Mercedes want a stake in Alpine, and have made a bid to Otro Capital, the American fund that currently owns a 26% equity in the team.
Christian Horner looked set to acquire Alpine ahead of the 2026 season, as he planned on purchasing Otro Capital’s equity and negotiating with Renault for a portion of their stake to gain a controlling interest.
Who is the best person to run Alpine in Formula 1: Christian Horner, Toto Wolff or Flavio Briatore?
While Horner’s consortium backers see high value in F1, the former Red Bull CEO was hoping to make a return to the sport after his mid-season dismissal.
Horner must be feeling blindsided by his former rival’s shrewd move. If nothing else, at least Horner seems to have prevailed in the court of public opinion.
READ MORE: Christian Horner facing major ‘complication’ that’s stopping him becoming Alpine’s majority owner
Toto Wolff and Mercedes slammed over anti-competitive bid for Alpine
As news emerged of Toto Wolff and Mercedes’ intention to hijack Christian Horner’s deal with Otro Capital, F1 fans made it clear where they stand on Reddit.
One fan wrote, “The ultimate pettiness, to buy ‘another’ F1 team to keep the guy you hate out of it!”
While another fan echoed this sentiment, adding, “Weapons-grade pettiness…”
“Toto would rather buy an F1 team if it’s on the verge of employing Christian Horner than welcoming Christian Horner back into F1,” claimed a third fan, seeing the humour in the situation.
However, a fourth fan pitched an alternative solution, noting, “Imagine Toto and Horner both buying stakes. That would be THE odd couple, alright!”
While a fifth fan believes this is a direct result of their years-long rivalry, saying, “Toto must at points, secretly miss Horner a bit… Even just as an afterthought. You don’t get intertwined in battle like that for more than a decade and forget.”
Lastly, one fan simply worried about the ethics of Wolff’s move, writing, “Isn’t there some sort of antitrust regulation in F1? I feel uneasy with one TP having so much power.”
READ MORE: Toto Wolff admits Mercedes can’t ‘make everybody happy’ amid rivals’ power unit frustrations
Would you like to see Christian Horner revive his rivalry with Toto Wolff?
Horner could make his F1 comeback with Alpine, who will have Mercedes engines from 2026 to 2030
Toto Wolff and Christian Horner’s rivalry could ignite bidding war for Alpine stake
Should this bid from Toto Wolff and Mercedes be taken into serious consideration, one has to imagine Christian Horner will do everything in his power to turn the situation back in his favour.
That could mean engaging in a bidding war with Wolff and Mercedes. For Horner, it would take some serious convincing to get his partners, MSP Sports Capital, to up their bid.
There is no word on how serious Mercedes are about acquiring a minority stake in Alpine. Unlike Horner, one would imagine they have no interest in convincing Renault to hand over controlling shares.
For Horner, the Alpine takeover represented his simplest and most lucrative path back to Formula 1. But his old foe could force him to consider other options.
What was once a rivalry restricted to the F1 paddock could now make the Alpine boardroom its next battleground.
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