The debate surrounding common ownership in Formula 1, often linked to the two Red Bull teams, was recently reignited by Mercedes and Toto Wolff’s apparent interest in acquiring shares in the Alpine outfit.
While that interest never materialised into a deal, it was exactly that which prompted McLaren CEO Zak Brown to write a letter to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem outlining his concerns about such structures – as they provide scope for unsporting cooperation.
The concerns include shorter gardening leave periods for personnel switching between teams owned by the same entity, potential IP (intellectual property) transfers – or, indeed, some on-track assistance.
Brown cited Daniel Ricciardo’s fastest lap in the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix – with the Australian, driving for Red Bull’s sister team, pitting shortly before the finish for no obvious reason and stealing the fastest-lap point from Lando Norris, who was chasing Max Verstappen in the championship. Earlier this year, during the Miami GP, Racing Bulls told its driver Liam Lawson to let Verstappen through, which also sparked some debate.
The topic of Red Bull owning two teams seems to come and go, and was again brought up to Laurent Mekies after the Barcelona GP, albeit for no apparent reason, as the race itself didn’t provide any grounds for speculation.
“Look, we are supporting 11 teams racing independently on track,” he replied. “There is an extremely precise and detailed regulation about transfer of personnel and minimum time of gardening leave between a team and another team. Not only do we respect the FIA regulations, but also we self-impose on ourselves higher time to make sure that we won’t fall in these sorts of discussions.”
Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Principal
Photo by: Chris Graythen / Getty Images
He then offered the media to “have a look” at how the Red Bull and Racing Bulls cars battled on track this year – to eliminate the suspicious suggestions.
“Since the beginning of the year you will have many, many samples,” he smiled, “because unfortunately our car was not very competitive at the beginning of the year.”
Well, we decided to take up Mekies on this offer…
Australia: “Don’t waste too much tyres with Max”
Arvid Lindblad started his Formula 1 career with a rather impressive opening lap in Australia, briefly climbing up to third despite lining up ninth on the grid. The surge featured an impressive move around the outside through the fast Turns 11 and 12 section on Isack Hadjar. Lindblad then firmly shut the door on the approach to Turn 13 as the Frenchman attempted to repass him. Not only did Hadjar fail to get through, but the ‘bulls’ lost a position each as Lewis Hamilton managed to overtake them both.
Hadjar then drove past Lindblad on the main straight– only for him to retake the position again on the back straight, as the pair were busy creating one of the very first samples of what would later be labelled yo-yo racing. The Frenchman got ahead eventually – but Lindblad indeed showed little evidence of any willingness to cooperate.
The championship rookie was then caught by Verstappen, who was recovering after his disastrous start, and the Dutchman spent a number of laps behind the Anglo-Swede prior to the VSC period initiated by Hadjar’s retirement. Both drivers pitted, with Racing Bulls ‘missing out’ (beware, sarcasm) on the opportunity to delay Lindblad with a slow stop. Lindblad still emerged from the pitlane ahead of the Dutchman – but was then told by the team that his race was “with Bearman”, who was behind Verstappen.
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing, Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images
“Don’t waste too much tyres with Max,” Lindblad’s engineer Pierre Hamelin radioed ahead of the restart, but that’s hardly suspicious either, as Verstappen had a fresh set of mediums compared to Lindblad’s hards, which needed to be nursed to the finish. He still blocked Verstappen’s first attempt after the restart, but was then powerless to defend on the back straight – before seeing the Red Bull disappear.
China: Lawson’s defence against Verstappen
Hadjar’s first-lap contact with Kimi Antonelli in the Shanghai sprint left him running ninth with a slightly damaged car, right ahead of Lawson. The Racing Bulls driver not only managed to stay close behind, but then overtook his former team-mate on lap five by forcing the Frenchman to defend into the hairpin and then overtaking him on the exit. Lawson proceeded to finish seventh, with Hadjar falling further behind.
In the main race it was Lindblad’s turn to battle a sister car. Another start delivered another slow getaway for Verstappen, as the Dutchman lost several positions once again. He recovered a few quite quickly, though, before getting stuck behind the rookie. He came close to overtaking when Lindblad missed his braking point into the hairpin, earning a flatspot in the process. The youngster still defended, though – and then again forced Verstappen onto the outside line on the approach to Turn 1.
The four-time champion, trying to delay braking, got ahead, but as he carried too much speed into the fast right-hander, lost the car and went wide – allowing the Racing Bulls driver to reclaim the position. Verstappen stayed behind Lindblad right until his pitstop at the end of lap eight, which brought him behind another Racing Bulls car – now that of Lawson.
It took Verstappen a few laps before he got past – but having conceded the position, Lawson at least made his life a bit harder by running alongside through Turn 7, with both cars separated by mere millimetres.
Later in the race Hadjar overtook Lindblad, but as in Australia, the Racing Bulls driver made the Frenchman work for it, almost squeezing his colleague onto the grass in the braking zone for the hairpin. The Red Bull driver was barely left a car’s width to make the move stick. He then tried to chase Lawson for almost 20 laps, but the New Zealander was simply faster and didn’t allow Hadjar to even think about an attack.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images
Japan: “We are reporting him”
If Mekies is ever forced to collect evidence to demonstrate how uncooperative Red Bull’s second-team drivers can be on track, the 2026 Japanese GP will form the biggest file in his defence attorney’s brief.
Four Red Bull-owned cars were running very close to each other for around a dozen laps at Suzuka, with Lindblad briefly leading the pack. And while Verstappen, predictably, found his way past the Racing Bulls car quite quickly, Hadjar once again had to work hard to overtake the driver who inherited his seat. The first serious attempt came on lap 11, with the pair battling for 10th. This time Lindblad didn’t leave Hadjar even a car’s width in the braking zone ahead of the chicane– and then changed his line a few more times, trying to fend off the sister car throughout the next lap.
“What the f*** he’s doing,” Hadjar complained on the radio. “He’s moving like a…”
Two laps later, in the same spot, Lindblad defended even more aggressively, almost putting Hadjar onto the grass.
“C’mon man, you can’t f****** do that,” Hadjar screamed on the radio, to which his engineer responded with a firm “we’re reporting him”– not adding, though, whether the report would be sent to the FIA stewards or Red Bull headquarters. Moments later, Lindblad was issued a black-and-white warning flag by race control.
Hadjar only got in front thanks to a strategy call.
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing, Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
Photo by: Clive Rose / Formula 1 via Getty Images
“Box opposite Lindblad,” he was told at the end of lap 18, and as Lindblad dived into the pitlane, Hadjar used the clear track to create enough of a gap to emerge in front of the Racing Bulls car after his own pitstop a lap later.
“What happened to that idiot?” he sarcastically asked his engineer as he exited the pitlane in front of Lindblad.
Miami: Lawson lets Verstappen through
The moment which caused some discussion around how Red Bull’s teams interact with each other during races came in Miami.
Verstappen again lost positions on the opening lap – this time thanks to a spin on the exit of Turn 1 – and found himself right behind Lawson. As the Dutchman never really waits for a “better opportunity”, he attempted to dive to the inside on the entry to Turn 11. The New Zealander, naturally trying not to give Verstappen any space, opened the door right ahead of the corner in an effort not to compromise his line too much– only to see Verstappen ease off the brakes.
Verstappen never got ahead at the apex, but carried too much speed and both ran out of room on track. Lawson ran very wide through the run-off and rejoined still in front, assuming that as Max had left the track too, he was in the clear. Yet moments later, the call from the team came.
“Liam, we need to give the position back to Max,” his engineer told him. “Do it as soon as possible.”
“He drove into the side of me,” Lawson protested. “I don’t understand.”
Yet just a lap later, in the same Turn 11, he moved aside to let Verstappen through.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
Photo by: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images
Whether it was a genuine mistake from the team, which didn’t analyse what happened properly and simply tried to avoid a penalty, or an attempt to make Verstappen’s life easier, perhaps offers some scope for debate. Lawson himself, though, was adamant there was no substance to make a big deal out of it.
“We made a mistake,” he told the media when asked about the Miami episode later. “We shouldn’t have done that – just because the move was actually Max’s fault. I think the way it was reviewed from the team, we just didn’t look at it properly. But you have such a short amount of time to make a decision that I think that’s why you can get it wrong. If we’d do that again, we wouldn’t have done the same thing.”
No further action
With Red Bull gradually improving its car, Monaco, Canada and Barcelona didn’t feature any battles with Racing Bulls, apart from a routine Hadjar pass on Lindblad in Spain – but the rookie in that case was just one of many drivers who didn’t have enough pace to resist the charging Red Bull after a poor start.
Those who love a good conspiracy theory will always find a way to point to the ownership structure as Red Bull and Racing Bulls drivers battle on track. But it’s hard to argue with Mekies that the start of this season alone has provided very little substance for such claims – even if some may still point to the Miami incident or indeed Ricciardo’s Singapore 2024 fastest lap.
The bigger topic is, of course, personnel movements (Mekies himself switched jobs between Racing Bulls and Red Bull without a gardening leave, after all) and potential IP transfers – and that topic is probably never going to go away.
Yet, for the most visible part – the battles on track – it would indeed be “silly” for Red Bull to try and play team games. Racing Bulls drivers certainly don’t appear eager to move aside the moment they see ‘big brother’ in their mirrors.
Arguably, though, the only real test would come in a race towards the end of the season – with a championship at stake. But one thing is guaranteed: in such a scenario, rivals would be watching closely.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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