Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have branched out into Formula 1 by purchasing a stake in Alpine.
Reynolds and McElhenney have made sporting headlines ever since taking over as owners of Wrexham, with the Welsh outfit now a League Two side having earned promotion from the National League in 2022-23.
As it stands, focus is on improving the first-team squad ahead of an immediate promotion bid to the third tier of English football, but it emerged on Monday that they have made an investment in a different sport.
Reynolds and McElhenney are said to be part of an investor group that also includes Otro Capital and RedBird Capital Partners.
The investor group have acquired a 24% stake in the F1 team, placing their value, say Alpine, at around €900m (£772.7m) after the team had signalled their intent to try to close the gap to the leading teams in the sport.
BREAKING: Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds is part of an investor group taking a 24% equity stake in Alpine #F1 pic.twitter.com/0K2867UBOg
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 26, 2023
As quoted by the official Formula 1 website, Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi said: "This association is an important step to enhance our performance at all levels.
"First, Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners and Maximum Effort Investments, as international players with strong track record in the sports industry, will bring their recognised expertise to boost our media and marketing strategy, essential to support our sporting performance over the long term.
"Second, the incremental revenue generated will in turn be reinvested in the team, in order to further accelerate our Mountain Climber plan, aimed at catching up with top teams in terms of state-of-the-art facilities and equipment."
In their two completed seasons, Alpine have finished in fifth and fourth place respectively in the Constructors Championships, and they currently sit in fifth position in the current campaign.
Most notably this season, Esteban Ocon recorded a third-placed finish at the Monaco Grand Prix, Pierre Gasly also achieving seventh on that occasion which is by far and away their standout effort of the year.
Darren Plant
