Alpine raises F1 pricetag: why new team entry fee is set to triple

But the investment has far-reaching consequences when it comes to the wider picture of the value of a place on the F1 grid.

On the very same day that the Alpine deal was announced, Hitech Grand Prix confirmed that its holding company – Hitech Global Holdings Limited – had secured significant investment for a 25% stake in the team from Kazakh businessman Wladimir Kim, but more pointedly that it had submitted an entry to join F1 in 2026.

“In 2023, after 20 months of planning and extensive preparation at its Silverstone base, Hitech made its application for entry into the FIA Formula 1 World Championship from the 2026 season, a move that would complete its single-seater ladder and demonstrate that Hitech has all the right people, experience and resources to compete alongside the best teams in the world,” the team confirmed.

In many ways, the timing couldn’t have been worse.

For any prospective new team, the current Concorde Agreement gives them the buy-in price of $200m. If we keep working in US Dollars, Alpine’s investors just paid $220m for a 24% shareholding, valuing the team at around the $900m mark.

Aside from the fact that $20m each will not really compensate the existing teams for their lost revenues for any serious length of time by having to split future income from F1 11 ways rather than 10, selling a spot on the grid for $200m would be close to handing out free money to a new entrant if the fifth-placed team in the championship is valued at over four times that.

So when F1 talks about wanting to ensure a new team brings value and is serious, it has to avoid offering a short-term profit option that might see one enter and then sell up ASAP.

But that doesn’t mean all hope is lost for new teams. In fact, the goalposts might be about to get even more clear. Once they have been moved, admittedly.

Talk about new entrants has regularly centred on the anti-dilution fee, but a firm replacement figure has not been in place. So as the Concorde Agreement is written from back in 2020, $200m remains the price. F1 wants to address that as quickly as possible with a fee that is relevant to right now – and the ongoing process for the FIA to review new team submissions – with a replacement Concorde.

Of course, it’s not just about the anti-dilution fee, but the entire terms binding the teams, F1 and the FIA together, so getting such a major piece of negotiating done over the next six months could be tricky. But F1’s target is to get one in place in the near future rather than waiting for the previous agreement to expire, and any new Concorde would then come into effect immediately.

With a fee that all teams were signed up to at this point, it really would then come down to suitability, and in an apparent difference of opinion to Stefano Domenicali, Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei this weekend stated his belief an agreement for an 11th team could be reached.

“I think in the right set of circumstances we would work to get the 11th team,” he told the Walker Webcast. “Somebody who could bring a lot of value to the sport, a lot of value to the fans, because of their position in technology, their position as an OEM, their position in marketing – some combination of all that – you could imagine coming to some kind of an agreement. But it’s not without controversy, certainly among the ten teams.”

As much as the Alpine valuation now helps drive up the price of a new entry, it does also cause further headaches for new teams. The existing ten are far more likely to want that level of investment to be heading their way, rather than to a rival or a start-up operation. More interested parties competing for less space drives the price up, and has the ability to make each existing outfit even more profitable.

And profitable is a term F1 teams can start to think about. The Alpine investment doesn’t just go into the development budget to try and make the car go faster as it would have in the past. The cost cap prevents that, and so it needs spending not only on facilities, but also on brand growth that means greater awareness, a larger fanbase and even more income. And that leads to a greater return for those shareholders.

Somewhat ironically, Alpine’s big news could prove damaging to the hopes of one of its potential future partners. Andretti Cadillac wanted to use a Renault engine (the PU division admittedly not part of the investment deal announced on Monday), but will see the buy-in price confirmed as much higher than when it started trying to enter F1 as far back as 2021.

With the proof of interest from investors into current teams, to make the argument even more compelling Andretti is likely going to need to drop its Renault plans and try to convince General Motors to increase its involvement as an OEM to tick all the boxes that F1 wants. Similarly Hitech will require a significant partnership, as will all of the prospective entrants.

A lot of this will not be news to those wanting a spot on the grid, who will have heard time and again from F1 how the value of teams is nearing the billion-dollar mark – or surely far exceeding it now in the case of the biggest names. But now, Alpine has given F1 and the other nine teams it races against the firm proof of those figures.

From that, a new anti-dilution fee that is likely to be at least three times the existing amount is all but a certainty.