Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has responded to McLaren CEO Zak Brown’s concerns about sister teams. The American CEO recently wrote a letter to FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem proposing plans to phase out team alliances in Formula 1. Mekies now says that Red Bull is willing to support such plans, but also immediately points out that teams in the pit lane can collaborate in multiple ways, including engine supply.
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Zak Brown recently sent a letter to FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem to express his concerns about team alliances in F1. The McLaren CEO had previously voiced his dissatisfaction with sister teams in Formula 1. Brown targeted both Red Bull and Racing Bulls as well as Mercedes’ interest in Alpine shares. In the letter, the American called for banning future sister teams and gradually dismantling existing structures.
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies – whose move from Racing Bulls to Red Bull was also mentioned by Brown in the letter – says his team is willing to take further steps to alleviate these concerns. “We all want eleven teams to race independently of each other on the track. As a sport, we have taken many steps in recent weeks, months, and years to ensure increasing independence for each team,” Mekies told the media present in Montreal.
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“If shareholders, whether another team or someone else, believe more steps are needed to ensure eleven teams race independently, then we would support that,” the Frenchman continues. “We do not think it is a matter of core ownership or strategic supply. There are many different ways teams collaborate in the pit lane: engine supply, gearbox supply, suspension supply, partial ownership, full ownership.” McLaren currently takes engines from Mercedes as a customer team.
Racing Bulls
Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane also speaks out on the matter. According to the Brit, both Red Bull teams do everything possible to strictly comply with all applicable regulations for sister teams. “Our relationship with Red Bull Racing is really a customer-supplier relationship,” Permane said. “We take certain suspension parts from them. We take the gearbox from them and several other components allowed under the technical regulations. We follow those very strictly. Much effort that could be spent in other areas goes into ensuring we comply with the regulations. I therefore see no problem with the way we currently operate.”
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