Ryan Reynolds and AJ were turned down by F1 rivals before Alpine investment
Gene Haas claims his team have attracted interest from investors in the past - but the American businessman has rejected such offers.
Last year, a group of investors led by Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds poured more than £170million into Alpine for a 24 per cent share. Haas, 71, entered his team into Formula 1 in 2016 and they finished bottom of the Constructors' Championship last season.
Haas recently sacked team principal Guenther Steiner and replaced him with their director of engineering Ayao Komatsu. Steiner, who is a popular figure among motorsport fans, joined the US-based team on their launch in 2014 and led them into F1 two years later.
Haas continues to fund his team unlike Alpine, who have welcomed several minority stakeholders including Reynolds and fellow actor Rob McElhenney. The pair are known for co-owning Wrexham and leading them back into the English Football League last year.
Alpine's other investors include former heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua, golfer Rory McIlroy, Liverpool's vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold, former Manchester United player Juan Mata and NFL stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
Ryan Reynolds mispronounces name of new Wrexham signing in hilarious video
Aston Martin also got an investment boost from a private equity group last November. This follows Sir Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS buying a minority stake in Mercedes two years ago. American group Dorilton also own Williams, while another group has a stake in McLaren.
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Yet it seems unlikely that Haas will join this list. "We have had outside investors come in, and they want to talk to us," Haas told F1's website. "They expect a 15 per cent rate of return every year. Give me a 15 per cent rate of return, and I have a couple of hundred million dollars I’ll give you! They have high expectations; they have all kinds of rules.
"What their job is, they want to buy into you, and five years later, they want to make a $100million (£78.5m) profit. Quite frankly, I don’t need that kind of oversight from people who come in with $200m (£157m) – it’s not enough to entice me to do that."
Haas has also pledged his continued support to the team amid the interest. "I didn’t get into F1 to sell (the team)," he added. "I did it because I wanted to race. Guenther had the same perspective. We’re not here to cash out; we want to race and be competitive.
"If you look at any team, historically, they have had a lot of good years and a lot of bad years. Surviving is one of the characteristics of getting better. As long as you can survive, you always have another year to prove your worthiness."
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]
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