The $750m F1 deal: Who will win the day as Mercedes talks confirmed?

Flavio Briatore has confirmed Mercedes is one of the interested parties looking to buy a 24% stake in F1 rival Alpine.

Early in the week, it was suggested that Mercedes and team principal Toto Wolff were interested in making a bid for the shares owned by a group of private investors, spearheaded by American private investment firm Otro Capital.

Amongst the group are well-known names such as actors Ryan Reynolds and Michael B. Jordan, as well as Kansas City Chiefs star duo Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.

Alpine chief Briatore has dismissed involvement from Wolff, which, if true, would have put him in direct confrontation with long-time F1 rival, former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

Briatore confirmed in January that Horner was amongst those who had held talks with Otro Capital over the stake, estimated to be worth around $750 million, given the team is valued in the region of $3bn.

But Mercedes would appear to have an advantage as it now supplies the new power units to Alpine.

Ahead of this weekend's Chinese GP, providing an update on the situation, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, Briatore said: "Every day is a new situation.

"I don’t know what the latest one is, but what I [can] say is that I know it’s a negotiation with Mercedes. Not with Toto, with Mercedes, and we see.

"In this moment, we have three or four potential buyers. Don’t forget, we’re talking about the Otro shares, nothing to do with Alpine. It’s the share owned by this hedge fund, it’s called Otro, American fund.

"They want to sell the 24 per cent, and a few candidates are ready to do the deal."

With Renault owning the remaining 76%, asked whether he was tempted to buy in himself, Briatore replied: "No, no, no, no. Just looking.

"I’m just looking at what’s going on and just watching what’s going on. For us, we have no communication with Toto at this moment. So, if somebody buys the shares, we are very happy."