Speaking to reporters at McLaren\u2019s headquarters in Woking on Wednesday, Brown said his view on close team relationships \u201chasn\u2019t changed at all\u201d and is something \u201cwe need to get away from as much as possible as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Mercedes are in talks over purchasing a minority stake in Alpine (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Why does Brown think it could \u2018compromise F1\u2019s integrity\u2019?<\/p>\n
Although Brown said he understood why Red Bull\u2019s ownership in two teams emerged, he added: \u201cIn today\u2019s day and age, that\u2019s (not) permitted in almost all, if not all, major forms of sport. I think it runs a real high risk of compromising the integrity of sporting fairness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown cited examples of this having a sporting impact \u2014 such as when Racing Bulls driver Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest lap at last year\u2019s Singapore Grand Prix, denying Lando Norris a bonus point that would have aided his title battle against Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen \u2014 as well an \u201cIP violations on the Racing Point (now Aston Martin) brake ducts,\u201d referring to a case in 2020 involving the team and technical partner Mercedes.<\/p>\n
He also noted the way employees have been able to move between partnered teams \u201covernight\u201d while a team such as McLaren has to wait for new signings to complete gardening leave or pay for their early release, which has a financial impact.<\/p>\n
McLaren recently announced it had agreed to sign Max Verstappen\u2019s race engineer, GianPiero Lambiase, into a senior technical role, but he may not be able to join until 2028 when his Red Bull contract expires.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you put that all together, can you imagine a Premier League game when you\u2019ve got two teams owned by the same group?\u201d said Brown. \u201cOne\u2019s going to get relegated if they lose, and the other can afford to lose. That\u2019s what we run the risk of. I think having engine power units and suppliers is as far as it should go.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my view, all 11 teams should be absolutely as independent as possible, because I think it has a high risk and we have seen it compromise the integrity of the sport. That will be what turns fans off quicker than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown said the topic was discussed in the last round of Concorde Agreement talks \u2014 the contracts that bind the 11 F1 teams, the FIA and F1 organization together \u2014 and there was now \u201ca higher level of awareness and watching by the FIA\u201d on the matter.<\/p>\n
Asked directly if this also applied to Mercedes amid its interest in Alpine, Brown replied: \u201cIt applies to anybody and everybody, A\/B teams, co-ownership.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo regardless of who it is, I frown up on it. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s healthy for the sport. It\u2019s not personal or towards any one team or individual.\u201d<\/p>\n
What was said about the Mercedes deal?<\/p>\n
Alpine executive advisor and de facto team boss Flavio Briatore confirmed in China there had been discussions with Mercedes over the minority shareholding, but clarified that \u201cit\u2019s a negotiation with Mercedes, not with Toto (Wolff), with Mercedes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mercedes became Alpine\u2019s engine supplier ahead of the 2026 F1 season in a deal that runs through to 2030. The German manufacturer also provides McLaren and Williams with its engines.<\/p>\n
Briatore added there were \u201cthree or four potential buyers\u201d of the 24 per cent stake, which is held by three groups; Wrexham owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney\u2019s Maximum Effort Investments; AC Milan owner RedBird Capital; and Otro Capital, which has backing from Rory McIlroy, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. The remaining 76 per cent of the team is owned by Renault.<\/p>\n
One of the interested buyers of the shareholding is former Red Bull F1 chief Christian Horner, who has been working toward a potential F1 return since agreeing his contract settlement with the team.<\/p>\n
Brown was a regular sparring partner with Horner in their time in F1 together, and he previously said he thought the sport\u2019s political battles would be \u201chealthier\u201d for his absence.<\/p>\n
But on Wednesday, Brown said that Horner was a \u201cgreat personality\u201d for F1 that he expected to return.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Horner\u2019s) a great operator, his track record speaks for itself,\u201d said Brown. \u201cI\u2019d rather have 10 weak team principals, but that\u2019s not going to happen anytime soon. There\u2019s huge talent that\u2019s coming up all the time. There\u2019s been a lot of team principal moves here in the last two, three years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it would be great to have him back in the sport. I\u2019m sure given his passion for the sport and his age, I\u2019d be shocked if he wasn\u2019t back in the sport, whether it was with Alpine or someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McLaren CEO Zak Brown has warned against increasing ties and ownership links between Formula 1 teams, saying it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-621629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}