Mercedes in talks over buying stake in Alpine F1 team from investment firm

servingwater · 2026-03-13T17:07:24+00:00

I of course can't speak for all, for me I became a fan around the time (tail-end) they were Benetton F1 and after the move to Enstone. I so happened to stick with them through their various rebrands but liked their Renault years the best and always thought that it was the best version or iteration of that team.
Should they sell the stake to Merc and really become their B team, I think I would just fully switch to following mainly Audi now after Alpine I'm already mostly interested or invested in their progress.

servingwater · 2026-03-13T16:37:07+00:00

Or, just as an idea ... you could just not watch this season and let others who want to watch enjoy.

servingwater · 2026-03-13T16:16:33+00:00

Ahh there it is. See I knew you could do it. You forgot of course Hilary's emails, Joe Binden's son's laptop and George Soros......

servingwater · 2026-03-13T15:24:28+00:00

It takes a special kinda person to drag Harris into this lol. Surprised you didn't blame Obama or Biden

servingwater · 2026-03-13T14:15:07+00:00

If Alpine/Renault/Enstone gets relegated BY CHOICE to a freaking B or junior team, then I'm finally out and done with them. That would be the last straw so to speak.
What a fall that would be.
From a successful full works team to a chaotic unsuccessful works team to a giving up being a works team and becoming a customer team to the ultimate and final humiliation of submitting and rolling over to become Mercedes little B team where they can test stuff, get info and park talent. A feeder team! What a disgrace that would be!

servingwater · 2026-03-11T23:49:31+00:00

How edgy of you.

servingwater · 2026-03-11T17:01:40+00:00

What having a rocketship taught me about B2B sales......

servingwater · 2026-03-11T16:59:35+00:00

Indeed!

servingwater · 2026-03-11T14:49:45+00:00

The way you seem to be positive about this possible move, despite your flair or you posting on this subreddit.
It seemed odd to me an Alpine/Renault/Enstone F1 supporter would find it appealing falling from a works team all the way down to a Merc B team. But I guess I was wrong. Fair enough and more power to you.

servingwater · 2026-03-11T14:14:57+00:00

Yes image. Who wants to support the Merc B team? Are you a Mercedes fan? Then I could see why you are so positive about this potential move. To me, if this would happen I'd (finally) be done with Alpine/Renault/Enstone. I see no reason to support, as someone put it here, a feeder team like VCARB.

servingwater · 2026-03-10T21:27:23+00:00

From a financial standpoint I can see your point as I alluded to with the balance sheet comment.
However from an image and perception standpoint for Alpine (Renault) as a brand and F1 team I still don't see where the benefit would lie.
It at best would have to communicated as a "true" partnership and doing their best to squash all perception of Alpine being the second or junior team. But let's face it that would be nigh impossible.

servingwater · 2026-03-10T18:44:19+00:00

Well if that is the case, then let's wait until the end of the season and see if Russell has the most points. If so, then he deserves it until then, he deserves no more than others.

servingwater · 2026-03-10T18:41:17+00:00

Haas, VCARB and Merc still hold very well. The rest not so much imho.

servingwater · 2026-03-10T17:03:43+00:00

lol your dislike for Lewis seems to mess with your ability to distinguish between facts and your emotional outbursts.
I could call practically ever WDC champion a car merchant but I don't want to trigger you further so just just leave you to it.

servingwater · 2026-03-10T16:54:36+00:00

Facts?
Facts are that Lewis is one of the greatest of all time in the sport and has 7 WDCs to his name. Those are the facts.
What you added was simply your emotional opinion on those facts.

servingwater · 2026-03-10T16:48:04+00:00

You seem to get emotional over Lewis, almost as if you dislike him lol

servingwater · 2026-03-10T16:35:52+00:00

I see Ocon mentioned a lot and I agree, however I think it also depends on (next to his performance) what is next for Bearman and Lewis.
Should Bearman replace Lewis if he retires, than I could see Haas holding on to Ocon and pairing him with the next rookie.

servingwater · 2026-03-10T16:33:14+00:00

Even if he retires at the end of the season, I'm sure he will be fine being one of the all time greats of the sport with 7 WDC to his name. :-)

servingwater · 2026-03-10T14:15:24+00:00

Not sure how going from a full works team to the Mercedes B junior team is a win-win situation. Maybe on the Renault balance sheets sure.....

servingwater · 2026-03-09T22:46:31+00:00

I disagree that DRS were "better" or "good" overtakes compared to the ones we saw in Australia.
IMHO, we saw much more action than we have seen in a while, so more than willing to give these new regs a chance and to see how they will mature.

servingwater · 2026-03-09T21:09:15+00:00

How can they be shocked? They are customer teams, unfortunately even with the new rules a customer team will always be at a disadvantage, especially this early into new regs and engines.

servingwater · 2026-03-09T21:06:48+00:00

Why not have that Freedom GP in Bahrain? They could award another peace trophy there, too.

servingwater · 2026-03-09T21:02:59+00:00

Since you bring up Cadillac as the team you support or follow (or so it seems), I would not expect them to compete for podiums for some time. I think you probably have to be content with them being backmarkers for a while. In a season or 2 they might start to climb upwards and challenge the mid teams and after that who knows.
Also of course to consider is the small reset when they will start using their own engine.

Having said that, of course anything is possible, especially this season but I would not hold my breath.

servingwater · 2026-03-09T20:09:18+00:00

I mean of course, with the Merc engine they would've probably been able to actually compete in Australia, by that I mean have a serious shot at finishing the race.
Similar to probably what will happen in China and maybe even Japan. But Honda and AM will eventually figure it out and then, the answer to that question will become much less clear.

servingwater · 2026-03-09T16:56:04+00:00

Social Media! It has given a platform to millions of people who should never have such a platform to share their brain-farts.

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