Forget Miami. The most consequential F1 moment this week came in one sentence from the FIA president. Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s hint that multi-team ownership could be banned outright doesn’t just complicate Mercedes’ bid for a chunk of Alpine. It threatens to rewrite how billionaires, sovereign funds and private equity have quietly carved up the sport for a decade — just as a September deadline forces Renault’s hand.
The deal on the table
Otro Capital — the private equity firm that bought into Alpine during F1’s post-Drive To Survive valuation surge — wants out. The 24% stake it is shopping carries Mercedes as a serious bidder and former Red Bull principal Christian Horner fronting a rival consortium. Renault, which owns the rest of Alpine, is reported to favour a Mercedes tie-up.
That preference matters. The Otro stake is not a passive investment. It comes packaged with decision-making power over driver hires, team principal appointments, and meaningful influence on how Formula 1 itself is governed.
For Mercedes, that is the entire attraction — a vote on the rulebook that shapes the rivals it competes against, plus a foothold in a French manufacturer’s strategy room. For Horner, fresh off his Red Bull exit, it is a path back to the front of the grid without having to build a team from zero. Either way, the buyer is paying for influence, not pace.
Otro itself bought into Alpine when F1 valuations were peaking on the back of a Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX)-driven popularity wave. The seat at the table was always part of the price. What it didn’t price in was a federation president openly questioning whether that seat should exist at all.
Why the FIA could block it
Ben Sulayem’s framing leaves little room for ambiguity. Ben Sulayem told reporters that owning two teams “is not the right way,” and that the FIA is “looking into that because it’s a complicated area.” Coming from a federation president, those words read as a verdict being drafted in public.
His reasoning hangs on the sporting integrity argument. If a single owner can vote on rules that affect the rivals it competes against — and influence which drivers and principals fill rival cockpits — the championship’s competitive premise gets thinner.
Ben Sulayem warned: “If we lose the sporting spirit, there will not be any more support from F1 fans.” Translation: the rulebook protects the broadcast rights and the Drive To Survive valuation premium that made Otro want in to begin with. The FIA is telegraphing that it is willing to torch a deal — or a category of deals — to protect the product itself.
The Red Bull collateral damage
A clean ban on multi-team ownership doesn’t only kill Mercedes’ Alpine ambitions. It forces Red Bull to divest Racing Bulls, the junior team it has owned and operated for 20 years. That is a forced sale of an established F1 entity in a market the FIA itself would be deliberately cooling.
It also changes the politics of the paddock overnight. Without Red Bull at the head of two teams, the door opens for Horner — long the chief antagonist of Mercedes principal Toto Wolff — to return to F1 at the Alpine helm.
Ben Sulayem appeared to welcome the prospect. He called Horner “good for the team, good for the sport” and added “we welcome him back.” For a federation president floating a rule change that conveniently benefits one bidder over another, that is not a subtle endorsement.
The September clock
The FIA’s tempo, not the bidders’ wallets, will decide who ends up with the seat at Alpine’s table — and what that seat is worth when they sit down.
The real pressure point isn’t the rulebook. It’s the calendar. Renault holds an option to dictate who buys Otro’s stake — and that option expires in September. If the FIA moves on multi-team ownership before then, Mercedes is locked out and Horner’s consortium becomes the natural buyer.
If the FIA moves after the option expires, Mercedes could end up owning a 24% stake it is then forced to unwind, with all the value destruction that implies. Forced sellers don’t dictate prices, and the buyer pool for an F1 governance seat shrinks the moment the rules change.
That asymmetry is why the September clock matters more than the bidding war. The FIA’s tempo, not the bidders’ wallets, will decide who ends up with the seat at Alpine’s table — and what that seat is worth when they sit down.
For Mercedes specifically, the unwind risk is the worst outcome of the three. Bidders pay full freight on the way in and discount sharply on the way out. The 24% stake’s value is anchored to the governance rights it carries; strip those away and the financial holding alone is worth a fraction of what Mercedes would have agreed to pay.
The Bottom Line
The Mercedes bid was always more about influence than pace — a vote on the rulebook, a foothold in a rival’s strategy room. The FIA’s choice now is whether F1 stays a club where the same wealth circles ten teams between them, or becomes ten genuinely independent businesses competing for the same prize money. The September clock will decide which one wins.
Want more like this? Sign up to The MJBurrows Briefing — our free weekly newsletter delivered every Monday morning.
FAQ
What is multi-team ownership in Formula 1?
It refers to a single owner holding equity stakes in more than one F1 team. The concern is that voting power on regulations gets concentrated and on-track rivalries become accounting decisions rather than competitive ones.
Why does Otro Capital’s 24% Alpine stake include governance rights?
The stake was structured at purchase to give Otro decision-making influence over driver hires, team principal appointments and F1 governance votes. That makes it a strategically valuable seat at the table, not just a financial holding.
What happens if Renault doesn’t act on its option before September?
After September the option lapses and Otro can sell to whichever bidder it chooses — including Mercedes, even if the FIA has not yet ruled on multi-team ownership. That creates the risk of a forced unwind later if the ban does land.
Disclosure & Editorial Standards
MJBurrows is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The content on this website — including articles, calculators, and tools — is for general informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute personal financial, investment, tax, or legal advice and does not take into account your individual circumstances, financial situation, or objectives.
Nothing on this site is a personal recommendation to buy, sell, hold, or otherwise deal in any financial product, asset, or service. You should always conduct your own research and seek advice from a qualified, FCA-regulated financial adviser before making any financial decisions.
Our calculators produce estimates based on simplified models using HMRC-published rates for the current tax year. They cannot account for every individual circumstance and should not be relied upon as exact figures. Tax rules and rates may change — verify current rates with HMRC or a qualified tax adviser.
Projections are not guarantees. Where our tools show future values (investment growth, pension projections, compound interest), these are hypothetical illustrations based on assumed growth rates. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The value of investments can go down as well as up.
Market data displayed on this site is provided by third-party sources including Twelve Data, Yahoo Finance, and CoinGecko. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of third-party data.
This content is designed for UK residents and reflects UK tax rules, thresholds, and legislation. It may not apply to other jurisdictions.
Using this website does not create a professional-client relationship of any kind. MJBurrows is not responsible for any financial loss, damage, or decision made based on the content presented. By using this site, you accept these terms.
This disclaimer may be updated from time to time without prior notice. Last reviewed: 23 April 2026.
MJBurrows is an independent UK personal finance publication, written and edited by Matthew Burrows. There is no parent company, no investor group, and no advertising sales team — decisions about what to cover and how to frame it are made by Matthew alone. Our full Editorial Policy sets out how the site operates in detail.
Commercial model. As of April 2026, MJBurrows generates no revenue. The site carries no display advertising, no affiliate links, no sponsored content, no paid product placements, and no pay-for-coverage arrangements. If this changes in future, it will be disclosed openly on the Editorial Policy page.
Sources. Articles and tools reference primary sources — HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), gov.uk, the Bank of England, the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Companies House, and UK government departmental publications (DWP, Treasury). Calculator data uses HMRC-published rates for the 2026/27 tax year. Market data (tickers, asset prices) is provided by Twelve Data, Yahoo Finance, and CoinGecko.
Verification. Every published article is fact-checked before going live. Numerical claims are traced to their primary source, quotes are checked against the original speaker or document, and calculator outputs are tested against HMRC worked examples. See our verification and accuracy policy for the full process.
Corrections. If you spot an error, please report it via the Corrections page. A three-tier severity system commits to specific response times:
- Tier 1 — Urgent (material reader harm, defamatory statements, regulatory or legal issues): acknowledged within 24 hours, page actioned within 24 hours, correction published within 48 hours of confirmation.
- Tier 2 — High (significant factual errors that misinform readers): acknowledged within 3 working days, correction published within 7 working days of confirmation.
- Tier 3 — Standard (minor factual errors, dated references, missing context): acknowledged within 7 working days, correction published at the next regular content review (within the quarter).
Significant corrections are logged on the public Corrections log.
Updates and review cadence. Calculators are reviewed at least quarterly, plus event-driven updates when HMRC publishes new rates (Budget, Autumn Statement, new tax year). Guides are reviewed at least twice a year, with major rewrites whenever underlying regulation changes. Tax-year-sensitive content is prioritised for review at the April tax-year transition.
Get in touch. For editorial enquiries — corrections, story tips, reader questions — the address is contact@mjburrows.com. The contact page is at mjburrows.com/contact. Every email is read personally by Matthew.
