Brown wants to stop Red Bull from having a 'B' team with VCARB
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
Zak Brown has made it clear on several occasions that he is not in favour of two Formula 1 teams from the same owner. With only Red Bull Racing and Visa Cash App RB having the same owner, it is not hard to guess which teams the McLaren CEO is talking about. After the launch of the MCL38, Brown revisited the subject. The conclusion: Red Bull cannot continue in the current way
According to Sky Sports, people within the Red Bull group consider Brown paranoid, because with Red Bull Racing and VCARB, there would indeed be two separately functioning teams. "No [I'm not paranoid], and actually I'm speaking in the wider interest of the sport. If you look at every other major sport, you're not allowed to own two teams. And I'd even go further. There's A-B team relationships," Brown said.
Brown sees different times
Brown acknowledges that 15 years ago - when Red Bull were allowed to set up a junior team - there were completely different times. Back then, the differences between the top teams and the small ones were huge. According to the CEO, the sport is currently developed to the point where there is a level playing field.
"I can tell you from sitting in the FIA, F1 commission meetings, the voting is always the same, even when in theory, it shouldn't be in one of the team's best interest. We've seen it on track, some collaborations going on. And then technically they've been very forthright...we're going to take the suspension etc."
Brown believes that a constructor is an organisation that develops its own intellectual property (IP), and he believes this is not the case with the Red Bull teams. "To have A-B relationships, to have co-ownership of two teams, I think isn't a level playing field. It's not what the fans expect. So the FIA really needs to do something about it."