Toto Wolff’s Alpine investment talks could further jeopardise McLaren’s relationship with Mercedes

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Toto Wolff has declared an interest in acquiring Otro Capital’s 24% stake in Alpine, which could further jeopardise an already fragile relationship between Mercedes and their customer team, McLaren.

McLaren have enjoyed utilising Mercedes power since the beginning of the 2021 F1 season. The deal, which has since been extended to 2030, marked a reunification of one of the most iconic engine partnerships in recent history.

However, the relationship between the two teams has seemingly been on a downward trajectory ever since McLaren leapfrogged Mercedes in the standings.

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Key figures within Mercedes reportedly want to ‘get rid’ of McLaren as a customer, with it also being reported that Toto Wolff never wanted the British F1 constructor within the team’s stable in the first place.

With the signs pointing towards a fractured relationship between the two frontrunners, Wolff’s interest in acquiring a stake in the Alpine F1 team could see things descend into further jeopardy for McLaren’s status as a Mercedes customer.

Toto Wolff will be receiving a ‘greater degree of control’ at Alpine if the investment deal goes through

Mercedes and Wolff’s interest in Alpine came as a bit of a surprise, considering that Christian Horner has been attempting to purchase Otro Capital’s stake in Enstone for a matter of months now.

However, when considering that Alpine are the latest team to be supplied by the German giants, it makes a lot more sense.

According to a report by Autosprint, Wolff would be receiving a ‘greater degree of control’ within Alpine if he is successful in purchasing Otro Capital’s stake, much more than the benefits that an engine manufacturer already enjoys with its customers.

This means that Alpine could start to be favoured over McLaren and Williams in the eyes of Mercedes, and receive benefits that could aid their quest on race weekends.

Wolff previously held a stake in the Williams outfit prior to Dorilton Capital’s purchase of the F1 team in 2020.

During that period, the British constructor was often the second-best Mercedes-powered team behind the dominant works outfit, and George Russell was handed a seat at Williams in order to hone his craft before stepping into frontrunning machinery.

Alpine will hope to end their droughts in F1 now they have a Mercedes engine, but will they?

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McLaren and Williams have already voiced frustrations with Mercedes’ engine supply in 2026

The dwindling relationship between McLaren and Mercedes has already been evident during the 2026 F1 season, with team principal Andrea Stella voicing his frustration with the lack of information his Woking-based engineers have been given on the new power units.

Williams are also reportedly ‘unhappy’ with Mercedes over the same issue. The new season has fallen well short of the expectations that James Vowles had outlined towards the end of last year’s campaign, and frustrations are at an all-time high within Grove.

Both teams are tied into deals with Mercedes that will see them continue to utilise power units that are being developed in Brixworth until 2030, meaning that if Wolff’s deal with Alpine does go through, they may have to wait a while before finding greener pastures elsewhere.