McLaren CEO Zak Brown has reportedly written to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to express his concerns over the issue of shared ownership between multiple teams competing in the Formula 1 World Championship. The topic is not new, but it has returned to the spotlight in recent weeks following reports linking Mercedes to a potential purchase of the 24% minority stake in the Alpine F1 team that investment fund Otro Capital is said to be preparing to sell.
The McLaren chief executive has now formally put in writing a position he has already expressed publicly on multiple occasions, reiterating his concerns about alliance structures between teams that share a common shareholder.
During a recent press conference held at the McLaren Technology Centre, Zak Brown pointed to concrete examples to support his argument, including the absence of gardening leave restrictions between teams operating under the same ownership umbrella, as seen in the relationship between Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls. Formula 1 has accepted the existence of Red Bull’s satellite team structure for years, but that arrangement was created in a very different era compared to today’s championship environment. The agreement that led to the creation of Scuderia Toro Rosso dates back more than two decades.
Zak Brown’s warning is primarily aimed at preventing this ownership model from becoming more widespread in the medium to long term. Mohammed Ben Sulayem himself, speaking during the Miami Grand Prix weekend, acknowledged the need to regulate an issue that is currently not specifically governed by Formula 1’s rules.
The possibility of Mercedes acquiring a stake in Alpine is raising concerns among those who fear the competitive advantages that could come with direct or indirect control of a second team. Beyond the gardening leave issue, Zak Brown highlighted several other sensitive points, including potential on-track cooperation between affiliated teams — citing Daniel Ricciardo’s fastest lap at the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix — as well as questions surrounding sporting integrity when regulatory matters are discussed, and the sharing of resources between connected organisations.
The broader concern is that Formula 1 teams without strategic alliances could find themselves at a structural disadvantage compared to competitors operating within interconnected ownership models.
Looking at other sports, the debate is far from unprecedented. In Europe’s leading football leagues, as well as in major professional sports leagues in the United States, regulations explicitly prohibit ownership stakes in multiple competing teams. Formula 1 has not yet addressed this issue in a comprehensive and structured way, but the timing increasingly appears right for the sport to act before potentially controversial situations create inevitable disputes in the future.
These developments suggest that the governance of team ownership will be a pivotal battleground for the next Concorde Agreement, as the sport seeks to maintain a level playing field and ensure that every constructor operates with total independence on and off the circuit.
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