F1 News: Should Red Bull be forced to sell ‘B’ team to Andretti? (2nd Update)

As you would expect he would do, Visa Cash App RB CEO Peter Bayer has downplayed Zak Browns concerns about his team’s close relationship with Red Bull.

RB launched their 2024 F1 challenger last weekend, showing clear similarities to the dominant Red Bull RB19 from 2023.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has been vocal in RB’s close alliance with Red Bull, calling for significant regulation changes to stop there being a “conflict of interest”.

He said: “I think the A-B team is a real problem moving forward. I think co-ownership, you don’t really have that in any other sport, and I think that provides a lot of conflict of interest.

“So now that we have a budget cap we need to be really a sport of total fairness and I think any time you have an entity that owns two teams, or an A and B relationship, I think it really starts to compromise the integrity of sporting fairness.

“That’s something that really needs to be tackled.”

Bayer has hit back at Brown, and any other critics.

“One of the first things you learn in Formula 1 is that the easiest way to become unpopular is to be successful,” he told RacingNews365.

“As long as you’re last, people will not even realize you’re there. As soon as you start knocking on the door, they will throw everything at you that they can.

“I’m coming from the FIA and I know how much scrutiny there is on all of the teams.

“Certainly, there is even more scrutiny when it comes to the teams working closer together. The rules are very clear.

“You might have seen the statement of the FIA, when they looked at our car, [they said] ‘this is a different concept’. There is nothing that concerns us.”

McLaren team boss Zak Brown has been very vocal in his objection of Red Bull owning two teams.  In this latest Sky Sports interview, he articulates his ‘sporting’ reasons very clearly.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

And they are VERY valid reasons.

Andretti and Cadillac are trying to buy a team, but can’t because none are for sale. Hence,  the question that comes to mind is why doesn’t FOM and the FIA ask or force Red Bull to sell the Visa Cash App RB team to Andretti-Cadillac?

This would appear to make the most sense to all involved from a ‘sporting’ perspective.

“The FIA really needs to do something about it” 💬

Zak Brown says having ‘co-ownership’ of teams within F1 ‘isn’t a level playing field’ 👇 pic.twitter.com/TXH4ImtTzW

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) February 14, 2024

There are growing concerns that an owner should not be allowed two F1 teams. Should the FIA ask Red Bull to sell AlphaTauri to Andretti?

(GMM) Zak Brown admits he is among those who are “concerned” about the ever-closer relationship between Red Bull’s two Formula 1 teams.

We reported just before Christmas that rival teams may even begin to push for the energy drink brand to sell AlphaTauri, as Red Bull seeks greater synergies between its two outfits.

Brown, CEO of McLaren, declared this week: “I am concerned about the AlphaTauri-Red Bull alliance.”

The American said he has heard that AlphaTauri will be moving much of its operations from Italy to be closer to Red Bull Racing in Milton Keynes, UK.

“So this A-B team and co-ownership, which is a whole other level of A-B team, is a big concern to us and the health and fairness of the sport,” Brown insisted.

“It’s pretty much not allowed in any other form of major sport, and I’d like to see us as an industry focus on that before it gets to a level of being where F1 once was, which was very out of balance.”

Even top figures at the FIA have admitted they are keeping a close eye on Red Bull-AlphaTauri style team alliances.

“The regulations regarding what is allowed and what is not must be adjusted,” Brown says. “They were written in a time without budget caps.

“They wanted to help small teams because the difference between a Mercedes and a minor team was unbridgeable. With a cost cap, this is no longer necessary. On the contrary,” he added.

“It offers much greater benefits to the A team and the B team than before. And F1 needs ten independent constructors.”