Rodin Cars founder David Dicker says he’s had tentative talks about purchasing AlphaTauri but that a price tag nearing $1bn is “commercially unviable”.
Rodin was one of three teams whose applications to join Formula 1 as a new constructor was recently rejected by the FIA, which left only Andretti Cadillac being approved to move forward and enter commercial discussions with Formula One Management (FOM). Prospective new teams have been encouraged to invest in existing outfits by the likes of Toto Wolff over the past year, but Australian billionaire Dicker says the numbers don’t add up even as he pursues other avenues into the sport.
“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.
“I do have a project that I’m working on. 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 that 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.”