Zak Brown has once again spoken out against sister teams in Formula 1. The McLaren CEO previously targeted Red Bull and Racing Bulls, as well as a possible collaboration between Mercedes and Alpine. In a new open letter to the papaya fans, he urges for changes. According to Brown, team alliances were a necessary evil in the past, but they no longer have a place in modern Formula 1.
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After an extensive eulogy on the state of the premier class and McLaren’s performance, Brown once again focuses on team alliances in Formula 1. “There is one point I would like to address; you have undoubtedly seen this in the media,” the American wrote. “Until recently, some teams, to survive in our sport, depended on alliances for, among other things, technological cooperation. That met all the rules at the time.”
Nowadays, however, such collaborations do more harm than good, Brown believes. “Now that the sport is in such a good state and all teams are financially healthy, it’s time for true independence between the racing stables,” he continued. “Apart from the engines – which not every team produces themselves – teams should operate completely independently to guarantee a fair playing field.” McLaren itself is a customer team of Mercedes, although Brown flirted with the idea of setting up its own engine program in the future a few weeks ago.
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The same rules for all teams
“Team alliances can blur the lines when it comes to technical, financial or governance issues,” he explained. “And ultimately, I think you, our fans, want to be sure that all twenty-two drivers are competing equally hard against each other and that the same rules apply to all eleven teams. Liberty Media and the FIA have done a fantastic job of growing and developing our sport. That’s why I am confident that we can now also focus on this issue and come to a solution.”
Zak Brown previously raised the team alliance problem with the FIA, through a letter to chairman Mohammed Ben Sulayem. Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies responded that his team is willing to reduce cooperation with Racing Bulls, although he emphasized that there are more teams that cooperate with each other.
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