Renault Group CEO, Francois Provost says the 'partnership' between Alpine and Otro Capital was of no real benefit to the F1 team.

In June 2023, RedBird Capital Partners joined Otro Capital and Maximum Effort Investments, collectively known as the Investor Group, in a $200m investment in Alpine, the deal, which involved 24% of the F1 team, valuing the French outfit at around $900m.

Much was made of the fact that members of the group included actor Ryan Reynolds, along with Michael B. Jordan and Wrexham AFC Co-Chairman Rob McElhenney. Subsequently, golfer Rory McIlroy was revealed as part of the group, along with Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Anthony Joshua and Trent Alexander-Arnold. Every photo-op was taken full advantage of.

According to Otro, the addition of these championship winning athletes and sports investors would bolster its strategic partnership with Alpine, combining premium expertise across different areas of the sports ecosystem and driving the team's reach to a world of new fans.

According to the blurb at the time, Alpine would "benefit from the Investor Group's collective expertise and track record in the sports industry including media, sponsorship, ticketing, hospitality, commercial rights management, licensing, and merchandising strategies to unlock incremental value creation and new growth levers".

Not so, according to Provost.

"We manage the team," he tells The Race. "Otro has no right, and no added value, to help us to operate," he adds. "So we are fully responsible.

"We are doing the job," he continues. "The partnership with Otro was not successful. I think we are capable to assess together this. They want to sell, they will get the good benefits.

"They need our agreement to sell," he insists, "and we'll do this maybe sooner or later, but from an operation standpoint there is no impact, and this is for me the most important."

And seek to sell is exactly what Otro is looking to do, with a consortium involving Christian Horner and another potential buyer in the shape of Mercedes having shown interest.

However, while Horner continues to kick the tyres, Mercedes baulked at the $720m asking price, which now effectively values the French team at $3bn.

While it is unclear what the next move is, other than the fact that Otro clearly wants to sell its stake, Provost insists that any future 'partner' must be of more than financial value to Renault.

"For me, there is no urgency," he says. "There are two principles, the first one is Renault will keep the control. We do not intend to sell shares. The second principle is, if ever Otro sells the shares, I want to be sure that with the new (minority shareholder) we have some intimacy, common goal, and common interest. So it's why I'm not in a hurry."

Since becoming a customer of Mercedes, the French team has improved dramatically and is currently fifth in the standings, and despite previous claims that Renault was losing faith in the whole F1 project (again!), Provost insists that this isn't the case.

"F1 is by far the biggest sporting event, all categories included," he says. "You have more than 800 million followers, an additional 100 million a year, and a lot of young people everywhere in the world. So when we have the chance to be one of the veterans there, it is common sense that we need to stay and we need to recover the position I think we deserve.

"We want to stay in F1," he adds. "This for sure will not change the strategy. The issue now is to recover, because the team was destabilised. The performance was really bad. So it's why I set as a unique first priority for the team to stabilise and set new strong foundations. This is our objective for this year."

Asked about the possibility, should FIA president, Mohammed ben Sulayem get his way and F1 returns to V8s, whether Renault might yet return as a manufacturer, Provost says: "I support the V8 direction, but it's not because it could be an opportunity for Renault to come back as an engine manufacturer. It's not our strategy.

"We can never say never," he admits. "But again, my unique priority is short-term recovery, and strong foundation from this to set up a vision for the team, a new ambition. This is my unique priority, not to come back with an engine."

Not wishing to suggest that Monsieur Provost is a little naive, but when an investment group pumps money into your company, whose benefit does he really believe it is for?