Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Red Bull says it would support further steps to ensure Formula 1’s 11 teams race independently, even as it rejects the idea that McLaren’s latest push against multi-team ownership is fundamentally about ownership itself.
Speaking at the Canadian Grand Prix, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies responded to McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown’s letter to the FIA and president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, in which Brown called for F1 to abandon or tightly regulate multi-team ownership and strategic alliances. Mekies said Red Bull was open to stronger safeguards if the paddock believes they are needed.
“We all want 11 teams racing independently on track,” Mekies said. He added that the sport has already taken many steps in “recent weeks, months, and years” to increase that independence, and said: “If any stakeholders, let it be another team or anyone else, would feel that more steps are needed to ensure 11 teams racing independently, we would support [it].”
That did not amount to a concession on Red Bull’s current model. Mekies argued the issue should not be reduced to ownership or strategic ties alone, saying Red Bull does not believe it is “a matter of core ownerships or strategic supply.” He pointed instead to the wider web of cooperation across the pit lane, including “power unit supply, gearbox supply, suspension supply, partial ownerships, full ownerships.” Red Bull’s position is that its teams already race independently, even if it is willing to back extra measures across the sport.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, speaking in Montreal to clarify Brown’s position, said the intervention was meant to be firm rather than inflammatory. Stella said Brown’s letter was “part of a process that we wanted to be constructive and healthy, but also very clear,” and framed the issue as a basic principle of the championship.
“I would really be curious to see if any of the stakeholders in Formula 1 disagree with the fact that this is a championship between independent constructors,” Stella said. “We believe very strongly that this principle should be enforced totally.” He added that McLaren believes there is still more work to do “such that the fairness in the game and in the competition is fully achieved.”
The debate has widened beyond Red Bull alone. Brown’s call for tighter guardrails at governance, technical and sporting levels comes as Mercedes is linked with interest in a 24% stake in Alpine, pushing the discussion toward a broader examination of how closely teams should be allowed to align.
Racing Bulls team boss Alan Permane defended Red Bull’s current arrangement, describing it as “very much a customer-supplier relationship.” He said Racing Bulls takes suspension parts, gearboxes and other components permitted under the technical regulations from Red Bull Racing, and stressed that compliance work is substantial. “A lot of effort that could be put into other areas” is instead spent making sure the rules are respected, Permane said, adding that he sees “no issue with the way we operate currently.”
That leaves F1 with a clearer fault line. McLaren wants the independent-constructor principle applied more strictly in practice, while Red Bull insists the present structure is compliant but has now publicly signaled it would not block further rule tightening if the sport decides more is needed.