In a wide-ranging interview on the McLaren website, Zak Brown, the CEO of motorsport division of the supercar group has revealed that he would like to see an end to B-team culture that's afflicted F1 in recent years. He feels this is greatly important in light of the budget cap which could expose a loophole to some of the big teams who could experience development with their B-teams and bypass the budget cap.
Already, it is a well-known fact that AlphaTauri and Red Bull are part of the same parent group. Similarly, Ferrari is the engine supplier to Alfa Romeo and Haas. Haas even absorbed a lot of Ferrari staff forced because of the budget cap which operates from a facility inside the Ferrari compound in Maranello. Alfa Romeo, of course, is part of Stellantis, but John Elkann, the chairman of Ferrari is also the chairman of Stellantis and his holding company has significant stakes in both. Mercedes also collaborates closely with Aston Martin and is has a stake in it apart from being an engine supplier.
Brown despite being a Mercedes customer is against these alliances and feels there should be a way to curb them.
"The threat of A and B teams has not gone away. It is vital that the governance of the sport is strengthened to prevent this," he said.
"The regulations, as they stand today, are heavily biased towards B teams/customer teams which is not in line with F1's principle of a group of genuine constructors competing with one another on even terms," he wrote. "It is diminishing what being an F1 'team' means and the fabric of the sport," he explained.
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"F1 needs to be 10 true constructors, where each team - apart from sharing the PU and potentially the gearbox internals - must design and produce all parts which are performance relevant. Right now, there is too much diversity in the business models between teams. Trying to apply the same set of complex regulations to each, and then policing them effectively, is needlessly complicated and compromised as a result," Brown added.
In fact, before Brown was hired by McLaren, its former CEO Ron Dennis had a firm belief that only a works team could win the constructors title and that was the reason he walked away from the Mercedes partnership and lured Honda back into F1. That of course was disastrous.
"This cost-capped environment should allow teams to become more recognisable entities in their own right within a realistic budget, without the concern of significant performance differences based on how much each team can spend. In a nutshell, the current situation allows B teams to be over-competitive compared to constructors, and A teams to be over-competitive by having the benefit of a B team," he said.
Brown is worried that only a constructor with a B-team would perhaps be able to compete for a world championship because of the wording of the rules. He also added that by virtue of having a B-team, independent teams are also bullied into a corner as these bigger teams also have control over more votes.
"On top of this, the voting pressure placed by the A teams on their B teams is not consistent with the promotion of an equitable sport based on individual team merit. As I have said before - and these teams won't admit to it - there are times when some smaller teams vote against their own interests to satisfy the agenda of their A team," he added.
