Red Bull meets FIA over strategy and ADUO row

Oliver Mintzlaff and Mark Mateschitz will meet FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem at Silverstone this weekend as Red Bull pushes ahead with high-level talks over its role across motorsport while also seeking answers on the disputed ADUO engine ruling.

Multiple source-based reports say the main purpose of the British Grand Prix weekend meeting is Red Bull’s involvement in FIA-linked categories beyond Formula 1. Mintzlaff, Red Bull GmbH’s CEO of corporate projects, oversees the F1 activities of both Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls, while Mateschitz holds a 49% stake in the company.

The discussion is a continuation of talks that began in Paris in June, when Mintzlaff first met Ben Sulayem to discuss Red Bull’s position in the wider motorsport landscape. That matters because Red Bull’s footprint stretches well beyond its F1 teams. The company was a commercial-rights partner of the World Rally Championship for a decade and still retains significant involvement in the FIA European Rallycross Championship and other series, even with WRC ownership changing hands.

A more sensitive issue is also expected to be on the table at Silverstone. Red Bull was caught out by the FIA’s assessment that its power unit has the strongest internal combustion engine output under ADUO, a verdict that leaves Red Bull Powertrains outside the compensation mechanism while Mercedes HPP, Audi, Ferrari and Honda were reported to have received upgrade tokens.

That decision has already triggered several meetings in recent weeks between Red Bull Racing representatives and the FIA’s technical department. According to De Telegraaf reporter Erik van Haren, the FIA assigned 10 people for eight days to review the documentation behind the ruling and will now explain at Silverstone, point by point, the procedure and data used to reach its conclusion. Van Haren reported that the review “has not served to make the FIA change its mind.”

That leaves Silverstone as more than a routine paddock meeting. Red Bull’s senior leadership is arriving to continue a broader strategic conversation with the FIA president, but it will do so with an unresolved technical disagreement still running alongside it.