Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Juan Mata also among the leading sports names to join the Otro Capital group, which committed to €200 million (£164m) investment into Alpine in June
Tuesday 17 October 2023 23:34, UK
Rory McIlroy, Anthony Joshua and Trent Alexander-Arnold are among the leading sports stars who have joined the investment group which recently bought into the Alpine Formula 1 team.
In June, Otro Capital announced a €200 million (£164m) strategic investment in the Renault-owned Alpine team in exchange for a 24 per cent equity stake in Alpine Racing.
Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were already named as part of the investor group through their Maximum Effort Investments at the time of the initial announcement.
Four months on and a number of additional big names from the sporting world have now joined that group:
In a statement, the financial group said that the additional array of investors would "help drive global awareness for Alpine F1 and will further complement Otro Capital's contributions in areas such as media, sponsorship, ticketing, hospitality, commercial rights management, licensing and merchandising".
Speaking as part of the joint statement, Liverpool and England's Alexander-Arnold, who attended last year's British GP at Silverstone, said: "I'm excited to be joining Otro Capital's group as an investor into Alpine F1 along with my brother Tyler.
"Having been to Formula 1 races as a fan, I love the high-pressure environment of the paddock and I've seen firsthand how incredibly impressive the Alpine team is.
"Our shared goal as an investment group is to help contribute to its continued success on the grid, at a time when F1 is facing incredible growth as a sport. As a footballer, I understand the importance of teamwork, innovation and determination in achieving goals."
Joshua, meanwhile, described the move to get involved as "an opportunity I couldn't ignore", while McIlroy said that his "passion for excellence on the golf course has led me to admire the same pursuit in Formula 1".
Although majority owned by Renault, the French manufacturer's Oxfordshire-based F1 team have run under the name of its sports car brand Alpine since 2021.
Amid a disappointing 2023 season on the track and a turbulent one off it, Alpine are sixth in the Constructors' Championship and occupy something of a no man's land between the top five and the rest of the field with five rounds to go.
They are 129 points behind fifth-placed McLaren and 67 points ahead of seventh-placed Williams.
At the Belgian GP in July, the team stunned F1 by parting company with team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane, the big-name departures coming hot on the heels of former Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi being moved on to different projects.
Bruno Famin has since overseen the F1 team, with the outfit aiming to hit back next season and close the gap to the leading teams.
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