McLaren chief executive Zak Brown has renewed his long-standing criticism of multi-ownership and close team ties in Formula 1 after reports that Mercedes is considering buying a minority stake in Alpine.
Brown has long opposed what he calls “A-B teams” — situations where one outfit, through ownership or technical partnership, has a deeper relationship with another. Examples include Red Bull owning two teams since 2005 and Ferrari’s technical partnership with Haas. It emerged last month that Mercedes had been among parties interested in the 24% Alpine shareholding held by US firm Otro Capital.
The Renault Group are Alpine’s majority owners. Flavio Briatore, Alpine’s executive advisor, said: “normally [in] one company, 75 per cent decide and the 25 per cent is a passenger, and this is the reality.”
Although such arrangements are permitted, Brown, whose McLaren team use Mercedes engines, said his view “applies to anybody and everybody” and that “regardless of who it is, I frown upon it.” He believes cross-team ties should not go beyond customer power-unit supply.
“I’ve been saying for 10 years I don’t like co-ownership, I don’t like A-B teams,” Brown told Sky Sports News. “I think it runs a high risk of compromising the sporting integrity of the sport.”
He pointed to incidents he says demonstrate the risk: fastest laps altering race points, Daniel Ricciardo’s fastest lap in the 2024 Singapore GP taking a point away from McLaren to help Red Bull, transfers of intellectual property between teams, and rapid staff moves that can create competitive advantages and cost-cap benefits.
“Can you imagine a Premier League game and you’ve got two teams owned by the same group? One’s going to get relegated if they lose. The other can afford to lose. That’s what we run the risk of,” Brown said. “So I think having engine power units as suppliers is as far as it should go. And then in my view, all 11 teams should be absolutely as independent as possible.”
Brown said he raised the issue during recent Concorde Agreement discussions and believes it’s now being managed, but warned against increasing such arrangements. He also expressed “huge appreciation” for Red Bull’s long-term investment in F1 while arguing the model should not be replicated, noting his conversations with Red Bull figures who have been open to scrutiny.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said the manufacturer is not looking to make Alpine a junior team but is assessing the merits of a minority investment as Otro Capital considers selling. “We are looking at it from different angles, and we haven’t come to any conclusions,” Wolff said. A consortium involving former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has also been confirmed as an interested party.
Formula 1 returns on May 1-3 with the Miami Grand Prix, the season’s second Sprint weekend, live on Sky Sports F1.