McLaren CEO Zak Brown has written directly to FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem requesting rule changes that would eliminate future scenarios where a single entity could control multiple Formula 1 teams. Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said his organization would support stricter independence requirements. The timing is deliberate: the FIA's regulatory window for 2026 technical rules closes in nine months.
Brown's letter follows months of paddock anxiety about ownership structures after reports surfaced that certain investment vehicles had explored acquiring stakes in multiple teams simultaneously. While no such arrangement currently exists on the grid, the regulatory framework contains no explicit prohibition. The FIA confirmed receipt of multiple team submissions on the matter but declined to specify which organizations beyond McLaren and Red Bull had filed requests.
The commercial stakes are immediate. Formula 1's franchise valuations have climbed to an estimated $2.8 billion per grid slot after Andretti Global's failed $200 million entry bid exposed the scarcity premium. Private equity firms circling the sport—including CVC Capital Partners, which sold its F1 stake for $8.5 billion in 2016—view multi-team portfolios as potential arbitrage plays. One scenario discussed in paddock finance circles: a fund acquiring a struggling constructor for $800 million, then a second team for $1.2 billion, and consolidating back-office operations to extract $60-80 million in annual synergies. The technical regulations would prohibit shared aerodynamic development, but commercial operations, hospitality logistics, and sponsor servicing could theoretically merge.
Sponsor chiefs are watching the FIA's response with particular attention. A major automotive brand currently negotiating a $45 million annual title partnership with a midfield team told its board last month it would pause final approval if common ownership became permissible. The concern is not collusion—the sporting regulations already address race fixing—but brand dilution. No CMO wants to explain to the CEO why their logo appears on a car that throws qualifying to benefit its sister team's constructor points.
Brown's letter also carries personal commercial weight. McLaren's recent partnership with Salesforce, valued at $30 million annually, includes clauses that guarantee the team's operational independence. If McLaren were acquired by an entity that also owned, say, Haas, certain contractual triggers would allow Salesforce to renegotiate. Brown is protecting not just the sport's integrity but his own revenue lines.
The FIA's statement describing itself as "divided" on the issue is unusually candid for a governing body that typically projects unanimity. That word choice suggests the World Motor Sport Council's manufacturer representatives—who answer to parent companies exploring their own multi-brand strategies—are resisting tighter rules. Ferrari, for instance, supplies engines to Haas and previously to Sauber. While engine supply differs from equity ownership, the manufacturer delegates understand that today's component relationship could evolve into tomorrow's investment thesis.
Mekies, speaking from Red Bull's Milton Keynes facility, called the current ambiguity "commercially irresponsible" and noted that his team's partnership pipeline includes brands that have explicitly asked whether common ownership could emerge. He did not name the brands. Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri already navigate sister-team perception issues despite separate ownership structures; Mekies's public support for Brown's position is a signal that even teams with adjacent relationships see regulatory clarity as a competitive necessity.
The 2026 rule package, which introduces new power unit regulations and redesigned aerodynamics, represents the FIA's cleanest opportunity to embed ownership restrictions without triggering existing contractual disputes. If the governing body waits until 2028 or beyond, any team ownership changes made in the interim could be grandfathered, rendering new rules ineffective. Brown's letter, and the coordinated support from Red Bull, suggests the teams understand this window closes faster than the FIA's typical deliberation pace.
What happens next depends on whether the World Motor Sport Council views this as a sporting integrity question or a commercial governance question. If it is the former, the teams' voices carry weight. If it is the latter, the council's manufacturer and promoter representatives—who see multi-team ownership as a potential liquidity event—will slow the process. The FIA's June meeting in Geneva will determine which frame prevails.
Formula 1's franchise economics have never been more attractive, and the grid has never been more stable. Those two facts are colliding. Brown is betting that public pressure, applied before the regulatory window closes, forces the FIA to choose competitive integrity over financial flexibility. The letter's existence is already having its intended effect: fund managers who were pricing multi-team scenarios are now pricing regulatory risk instead.
The takeaway
McLaren and Red Bull are coordinating regulatory pressure to close multi-team ownership loopholes before 2026 rule package finalizes.
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