Formula 1 is a glamorous sport, and people from all around come to witness it live. Because of this, the F1 community has gotten used to seeing celebrities on track and in garages for race weekends. But celebrities buying a stake in a team? That’s new. The F1 World was taken by storm on Monday when Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney, and Michael B. Jordan, along with Otro Capital and RedBird Capital Partners, bought a 24% stake in Alpine.

What’s interesting is that this wasn’t the first time Reynolds and McElhenney invested in a sports team. The pair took over Welsh soccer club Wrexham in 2021 and turned its fortunes around, with the team getting promoted to the Football League after a 15-year absence. With their investment in Alpine, the pair and their partners will strive to do the same in F1, helping the French team reach the front of the field. While the F1 community was buzzing with the news, F1 mogul Eddie Jordan who is worth $619 million had doubts about this investment.

Eddie Jordan didn’t believe the investment really happened

In the early hours after the $218 million investment announcement happened, Eddie Jordan expressed his views on Reynolds’ big move. According to Express, speaking to GB News he said, “I don’t believe it.” What he didn’t believe was if financially the value of Alpine adds up, & would be worth almost $900 million. Considering Alpine is a new team (even taking into account the years it was called Renault), he found it strange that a team in the stage of its career that Alpine is in would be worth that much.

He raised doubts about the legality of the deal & its high valuation by saying, “It’s all very nice and very s*xy to put these figures on things but they need to be supported and they need to be authorized.” Eddie also mentioned how, after the news broke, neither Alpine nor Renault (its parent company) authorized the investment. He said, “I noticed that there hasn’t been any reaction from Alpine or, indeed, from Renault, which is a major shareholder.”

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Jordan also alluded to the financial logic aspects with respect to other big F1 teams. He said, “To value something of that level at a gross value of £700m – it’s preposterous. It’s ridiculous. What does that mean for the value of people like Ferrari or Mercedes or a Red Bull, for example? That is what I consider to be the value of those teams. Alpine – it’s just not even close to that yet.”

On Jordan’s doubts of no Alpine officials reacting to the news, Alpine boss Laurent Rossi confirmed the news a few hours later and even added his expectations following the investment.

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Alpine looks to boost its media profile After Ryan Reynolds’ Investment

One of the primary goals the partnership will aim to achieve is extracting better performance from the team in all aspects. Alpine would be looking forward to a turnaround similar to Wrexham’s after Reynolds and McElhenney took over the club. But apart from that, Laurent Rossi wants the partnership to help boost its media sentiment.

Ryan Reynolds, apart from being an actor, is a media icon. His relationship with his wife, Blake Lively, and their banter on social media has made them one of the most well-known figures in pop culture. Alpine would look to use this public perception of Reynolds (as well as McElhenny and Jordan) to attract people to its brand. Considering that’s the main goal, maybe making a documentary on the team (like they did with Wrexham) will be part of its efforts. Either way, the F1 community will keep its eyes trained on Alpine’s media.

What was your reaction when you heard about the investment in Alpine?

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