McLaren boss Zak Brown has demanded a ban on common ownership of F1 teams in an indirect attack on Red Bull. Inter-team collaboration became a major talking point at the end of last season amid concerns over the working relationship between Red Bull and sister outfit AlphaTauri.
A late run of upgrades saw AlphaTauri jump from last to eighth in the Constructors’ Championship standings, raising concerns in some quarters regarding the possibility of intellectual property sharing. The two entities are set to have even closer ties from 2024 onwards, with AlphaTauri having been tipped to change their name to Racing Bulls next year.
In an open letter on Thursday evening, Brown called for the ‘unhealthy situation’ regarding common ownership of teams to be addressed by F1’s lawmakers. Although he did not mention Red Bull or AlphaTauri by name, they are the only teams on the grid with shared owners.
Brown said: “We should prioritise some of those rules that currently impact the impartiality between competitors. For example, most other major sports prohibit the ownership of two teams within the same league because of the obvious potential damage that it does to competition.
“It’s an unhealthy situation because it impacts decisions made both on and off the track. Whether it’s a case of having access to more data, sharing components or personnel, or even having influence over a strategic vote, it’s not in the spirit of the regulations.
“It’s important to stand up for independence, competition and fairness, and I’d like to see changes in the regulations to ensure that in future, they stop influence spreading from one team to another through strategic alliances and especially through ownership. Formula One should be true to its brand and every team, except power units, should be totally independent of each other.
“I believe Formula One fans universally believe in fairness in competition and a level playing field, and would reject any actions that compromise the true spirit of competition within Formula One. Part sharing of information, shared ownership models, and strategic alliances within the sporting fabric will only serve to undermine the fans’ belief in fair and fierce competition.”
Brown previously called out Red Bull for breaching the cost cap after they were found guilty of overspending in 2021. He accused the Austrian team of ‘cheating’ in a letter to the FIA and later doubled down on his claims by refusing to apologise following criticism from Christian Horner.
Speaking in a press conference after it was revealed that Red Bull had exceeded their budget allowance, Brown said: “I stand by my letter. When you break the rules, whether it’s technical and financial, there are many different ways to characterise it.
“I know [cheating] is such a strong word, but I don’t see any difference between breaking the financial cap versus having too low of a ride height, or whatever the case may be. If it’s something within the sporting, financial, or technical regulations, a breach of the rules, I guess you could call it a couple of different things. Some people in a more simplistic manner would call it that.”
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