Red Bull-style B teams risk ‘compromising fairness’ in F1 – Zak Brown

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says the ‘A team and B team’ model risks “compromising the integrity of sporting fairness” in Formula 1.

Close ties between teams have been scrutinized throughout the last two decades, during which Red Bull has owned two F1 outfits, and even prior to that – for instance when Sauber’s Ferrari-powered backmarker Norberto Fontana blocked the Scuderia’s title rival Jacques Villeneuve in the 1997 title decider.

Brown was asked about the issue shortly after Red Bull revealed it was hiring sister squad Racing Bulls’ deputy technical director Andrea Landi as its head of performance, with just two months and a half separating the announcement from Landi’s first day at work in Milton Keynes, on 1 July.

This contrasted with McLaren’s capture of Red Bull’s head of racing Gianpiero Lambiase, who also acts as Max Verstappen’s race engineer. The Woking-based squad might have to wait until 2028 before it can get ahold of the Italian.

But this is not just about the Austrian firm, Brown insisted. The American also brought up the Haas model, with the design office of F1’s smallest squad located in Maranello. Several members of the Scuderia previously moved to Haas, including current Mercedes deputy technical director Simone Resta, who was Ferrari’s head of chassis engineering before he instantaneously joined Haas for three years as its technical director.

Meanwhile, Mercedes is considering acquiring a 24% share in the Alpine F1 team.

“I think A/B teams, we need to get away from as much as possible, as quickly as possible. Co-ownership – which we have one group now, and I understand how that came about, why it came about – in today’s day and age, that’s permitted in almost, if not all, major forms of sport,” Brown said, in reference to when Red Bull bought the Jaguar team to join the grid in 2005, then took over the ailing Minardi outfit in 2006.

“It runs a real high risk of compromising the integrity of sporting fairness. What would turn fans off as if they don’t feel like there’s 11 independent racing teams?

“I’ve been vocal about it from day one. We’ve seen it play out on track in a sporting way. Daniel Ricciardo taking the fastest-lap point away from us to help the other team. We’ve seen IP violations on the Aston Martin/Racing Point on brake ducts.”

RB driver Ricciardo pitted late in the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix to snatch the fastest-lap point away from Red Bull racer Max Verstappen’s title rival Lando Norris; the second element refers to controversy regarding the 2020 Racing Point (now Aston Martin) car, which was nicknamed the Pink Mercedes due to its similarities with the 2019 title-winning Silver Arrow. This earned the team a 15-point deduction in the 2020 championship.

Lance Stroll, Racing Point

Photo by: Charles Coates / LAT Images via Getty Images

“We’ve seen employees move overnight, where we either have to wait and sometimes make financial deals, which then impacts us on the cost cap,” Brown continued. “So, when you see other [staff] that move from one to the other without financial compensation, that’s an unfair financial advantage, that’s an unfair sporting advantage. We’ve seen Ferrari and Haas move people back and forth. We know IP is a lot in your head.

“So, you put that all together; can you imagine a Premier League game when you’ve got two teams owned by the same group, one’s going to get relegated if they lose, the other can afford to lose? And that’s what we run the risk of.

“So, I think having engine power units as suppliers is as far as it should go. And then in my view, all 11 teams should be absolutely as independent as possible, because I think it has a high risk and we have seen it compromise the integrity of the sport, and that will be what turns fans off quicker than anything else.”

Zak Brown, McLaren

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images

Asked if anything has changed over the years to try and prevent the two-team model, Brown replied: “It was a big discussion in the last Concorde. I wrote to the FIA and Formula 1 last year on the topic, because we see things happen all the time and we flag them. I think there’s a higher level of awareness and watching by the FIA.

“I’m glad to see quite frankly that the Racing Bulls and the Red Bull don’t look like the same race car. I’ve had these conversations with Laurent [Mekies, Red Bull team principal] – I’m not picking on him in particular but he’s the only one who’s got two teams – and he’s been very open and transparent of, ‘Hey, if you see something that you don’t like, let’s just chat about it’. So, I think they recognise it and don’t want to push the envelope.

“There were discussions in the Concorde Agreement about, ‘Should over time one of the teams be divested?’. But also, I have a huge appreciation for what they’ve done for the sport and how that was done a long time ago.

“So, as long as it’s managed, watched… but certainly adding to it would be a mistake for the sport.”

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