Rodin Cars founder and prospective F1 entrant David Dicker says the $1 billion valuation put on AlphaTauri by Red Bull is “commercially unviable”.
Dicker, whose recent application seeking an entry into F1 in the name of Rodin was rejected by the FIA, has revealed that he held tentative talks with Red Bull over the acquisition of Scuderia AlphaTauri.
However, the one billion dollar price tag slapped on the Faenza-based outfit makes little sense in Dicker’s view, the Kiwi calling the team’s value proposition “weak”.
“Well, I do have some talks about buying AlphaTauri, but the price is commercially unviable as far as I could understand it,” Dicker told RACER.
“You’ve still got to look at these things in commercial terms. And the F1 guys are experts on the motorsport side, but on the business side, I’m not so sure.
“I’ve had a few people talk about this and that, but nothing tremendously concrete. I do have a couple of things that I might get a bit more info in the next week or two about some possibilities there. But the value proposition is weak.”
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Dicker admitted to feeling upset by the FIA rejecting his F1 project, but the 69-year-old tech entrepreneur isn‘t giving up on his motorsport aspirations, hinting that he has another idea in the pipeline.
“I do have a project that I’m working on,” he said. “It’s interesting and exciting, but I can’t talk about it quite yet, because I haven’t quite got it.
“But let me put it this way: I’m pretty pissed off about not getting into Formula 1, so I’m not just going to go away and sulk.
“That’s just the way I am. I mean, you want to do things, and that’s what life’s about. You just try to do them. And if you can’t do it one way, then look for another way, or other ways, of doing things.”
Dicker, who acquired a majority stake in Carlin at the beginning of this year, reveals that he was also a potential bidder when Williams was on the market in 2020.
He says that he also engaged in discussions with both Sauber and Haas in the past regarding potential investments.
“Well, I would (buy a team) if I thought there was a viable route but paying $800-900million for (AlphaTauri) would probably not be considered commercially viable. But you know, just got to see if there’s possibilities,” he said.
“I made a mistake when Williams was for sale because I could have bought that pretty easily. And I didn’t read the strategic landscape correctly on that with the way we made the bid, which in hindsight, was obviously a mistake. But there it goes.
“I had a lot of talks with Williams about buying Williams – saw all the numbers and sat through presentations and made them an offer and everything – and I’ve had a few guys talking about other teams from time to time.
“Mostly Sauber and Haas, which have more or less been on and off the market for years, and could have probably been bought for much lower numbers that made a lot more sense. And like I said, I probably screwed that up.”
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