Coulthard defends Red Bull in F1 ownership row

David Coulthard has defended Red Bull’s second-team model against Zak Brown’s push for stricter Formula 1 ownership rules, arguing its role should be judged by what it has added to the sport rather than only by current concerns over competitive integrity.

Brown, the McLaren CEO, wrote to the FIA earlier this year calling for tighter regulation of multi-team ownership structures. He argued that they risk compromising sporting integrity, cited examples of cooperation between Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls, and said the model should eventually be phased out so the two operations become fully independent.

Speaking on the Up to Speed podcast, former F1 driver David Coulthard said Brown’s stance reflects a growing mood in the paddock, but not one that has yet produced any formal action. “Yeah, well, look, those are definitely the sort of comments we’ve heard publicly from Zak Brown at McLaren,” Coulthard said. He added that “Toto may also have referred to independence and the importance of teams being independent, so there’s clearly a sort of momentum building towards that,” before stressing: “I don’t believe there’s been an official directive on it, and nothing has been announced.”

Coulthard’s main counter was that critics overlook what Red Bull did for the team now known as Racing Bulls after buying Minardi in 2005. He said Red Bull helped turn “a small midfield team” into “a viable top-10 team,” adding that it was “never that” when Red Bull bought into it. That transformation is now reflected in a team that regularly scores points and often targets Q3.

He also pointed to the wider racing value of the structure as part of Red Bull’s junior-driver system. Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz both made their Formula 1 debuts through the Faenza-based team before moving on in their careers.

Coulthard said Red Bull would still come out well even if the FIA or Formula 1 eventually forced a split or sale. He said the bigger picture is the rise in team values during the Liberty Media era, arguing Red Bull would see a “sizeable return” on its investment. As a benchmark, he said teams have gone from being valued at less than $200 million when Williams was sold to “probably $3 billion now, or whatever number you want to dream up.”