Saudi Arabia takeover could turn six-podium F1 team into world champions, there are ‘rumours’ they’re for sale

Ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend, the country’s top motorsport official said they could look to buy an F1 team. Their involvement in the sport has grown since they joined the calendar in 2021.

State-owned oil company Aramco is already the title sponsor of the Aston Martin team. They have a separate deal with the championship as a whole.

The Public Investment Fund, or PIF, invested in McLaren four years ago, too. Their influence extends to multiple sports, including football, where they own Premier League team Newcastle United, and golf.

Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal, the chairman of the Saudi automobile and motorcycle federation, says a state-backed takeover of an F1 team ‘could happen’.

He ‘wouldn’t be surprised’ if this was the next step amid growing interest in the sport. As of 2024, six F1 teams are valued at over £1bn, with the other four approaching that figure.

Alpine are the obvious target if Saudi Arabia wants to buy an F1 team

Speaking on the RacingNews365 YouTube channel at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, journalist Ian Parkes says rumours persist ‘in the background’ that Alpine could be up for sale. F1 veteran Flavio Briatore has effectively been in charge of the team since last year.

Briatore took the bombshell decision to scrap Alpine’s in-house engine operation, which made them a customer team. They will race Mercedes power units from next year onwards.

He may have done this to make the team a more ‘saleable asset’. They are clearly the standout option for Saudi investors.

“Saudi Arabia could potentially acquire a team not too far down the line,” Parkes said.

“There are rumours in the background that one of the reasons why Flavio Briatore was brought into Alpine was to raise its profile, to ensure it became at some point in the not-too-distant future a more saleable asset. That saleable asset, who knows, could it be sold to Saudi Arabia?”

Alpine are descendants of the world-championship winning Benetton and Renault teams, but they have only scored one win and six podiums in their current guise. PIF assets total nearly £1trillion, so with their backing, they could feasibly become world champions in the future.

Put simply, the Enstone outfit would have the resources to rival any team and the capacity to recruit some of the best engineers out there.

Ralf Schumacher’s wild Alpine driver market claim could now make sense

Renault remain the primary owners of Alpine but in 2023, they sold a 24% stake to the Otro group, which includes multiple celebrities. Ryan Reynolds, Anthony Joshua and Rory McIlroy were among the investors.

Alpine tied Pierre Gasly, one of the most highly-regarded drivers in F1’s midfield, down to a multi-year contract in 2024. Jack Doohan is safe from being dropped for now, but his future beyond 2025 is in question.

This week, Sky Germany pundit Ralf Schumacher remarkably claimed that Briatore could try to sign Max Verstappen. Up to this point, there’s been no indication that they could tempt a world champion.

But with Saudi support, Alpine could suddenly become much more attractive. There’s no indication that any talks have been held over a sale, but it’s not difficult to connect the dots.