Wolff intervenes in Red Bull discussion: 'Need to revisit the rules'

One of the topics - perhaps even controversies - before the start of the season, was whether or not the same company can be permitted to own more than one F1 team. Under current regulations, it is allowed, but the likes of Zak Brown (McLaren) want that to change. Toto Wolff (Mercedes) and Frederic Vasseur (Ferrari) are now getting involved in the discussion, which actually focuses on Red Bull.

The Austrian company has Red Bull Racing as well as Visa Cash App RB (VCARB). McLaren's CEO fears that this is an unhealthy situation for the sport, as it would make it very easy for teams to exchange information among themselves. On the other hand, there are voices saying that in football, for example, teams of the same owner could also just play against each other.

Vasseur sees two sides to the problem

Asked about the issue, Vasseur says there are two issues: "The first is the ownership of the team and the second is the technical regulations. You can imagine that there is cooperation even if you are not under the same ownership. There is a clear separation in the regulations and it is up to the FIA to decide whether something is black or white. For me, that has always been clear and it has been respected."

"Being an owner can lead to extreme situations in football. But we should also remember that two, three or four years ago, everyone was happy that Red Bull was funding a team, at a time when we [the sport] were struggling. We have to keep it in mind also," Vasseur argues.

Wolff wants clarity for the future

Toto Wolff, team owner and CEO of the Mercedes F1 team, agrees with the reasoning of both Vasseur and Brown. "I think there is a legacy situation with Red Bull that the sport owes them a lot," says the Austrian. "They have two teams, they finance them, they have a great junior programme, a circuit and a lot of brand value. And so they are not like any other smaller team. So I think at shareholder level [of F1] it's quite a difficult discussion based on that contribution."

"But on the other hand, we are a sport with constructors and I believe the same shareholding, the same location and shared facilities there will always be some ambiguity among competitors and I think we have to look at the regulations. Are the regulations robust enough? Are they [Red Bull] controlled well enough so that it feels right for us? Are we seeing potential loopholes? And what do we need for 2026?"

According to Wolff, the latter is especially relevant for the future: "Define regulations that feel everyone comfortable with the situation. From the small teams that use such collaboration, like Haas, because it's going to be very difficult for them to stand on their own feet, to the teams that have no relationships with any other, or no customer-client relationship, to the big teams all the way on the other end that have joint shareholding and same locations. And I believe that is the thing we need to be tackling, that everybody is fine with the situation."