Zak Brown recently chimed in conversation about Red Bull's and its sister team AlphaTauri's close collaboration as he expressed "big concerns."
AlphaTauri F1 team started making quite decent progress towards the end of the 2023 season. The Italian team went from last place on the grid to eighth in the last few races.
The significant progress of the team prompted some of the other F1 teams to question just how close the collaboration between the Championship leader, Red Bull, and its sister team could be. Zak Brown told motorsport.com.
"We have some big concerns over the alliance between AlphaTauri and Red Bull. I think that is something that needs to be addressed in the future."
The problem Brown highlighted is that both teams have the same owner, Red Bull BmbH. If these two teams decided to collaborate, it could lead to an unfair advantage.
“So, I still think the sport has a way to go to make sure that everyone is truly independent. It is two teams with common ownership, which you wouldn’t have in other sports.
While nothing has been proven, a close relationship between the two teams, like Red Bull and AlphaTauri, could also include sharing of important car development data and more.
"[It could benefit Red Bull in] a lot of different ways. There is a reason why they are moving a lot of their people from Italy."
Christian Horner recently addressed the issue, saying Red Bull only supplied AlphaTauri with components allowed by regulations and suggested the AlphaTauri car looks further from the Red Bull concept than some other teams. Brown continued:
“As Helmut [Marko, Red Bull motorsport advisor] has said, they are going to do absolutely everything they can to benefit from having two teams."
FIA head of single-seaters, Nikolas Tombazis, also freshly commented on the topic the organization has not found any evidence of direct collaboration between the two Red Bull-owned teams. McLaren CEO added:
"I get that because that’s what the rules say. But I think we need to look at the governance of the sport around technical alliances."