Zak Brown Writes FIA Demanding Ownership Firewall After Audi-Sauber Structure Emerges

McLaren CEO Zak Brown sent a formal letter to FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem calling for immediate regulatory changes to prohibit common ownership structures across Formula 1 teams. The timing is specific: two weeks after Audi finalized its purchase of the Sauber operation, creating the grid's first major manufacturer-owned entry since Mercedes bought Brawn in 2009.

Brown's letter does not name Audi. It does not need to. The German manufacturer now controls 100% of what was previously a Swiss-operated privateer team, a structure Brown argues creates unacceptable conflicts when technical data, sponsor relationships, and driver contracts sit under overlapping boards. The McLaren CEO is asking the FIA to codify language that already exists in informal gentleman's agreements: each of the 10 constructor entries must operate under separate ownership with no cross-board representation.

The concern is not theoretical. Ford announced its technical partnership with Red Bull in February. General Motors is engineering a Cadillac-branded power unit for Andretti's stalled 2026 grid application. If those programs move from partnership to acquisition, the grid risks becoming a subsidiary chart. Brown's letter arrives as McLaren itself navigates a 33% stake sale to Ares Management, a private equity firm that also holds positions in the sports data and media companies that service F1's digital ecosystem. The difference, Brown would argue, is that Ares does not own another team. Yet.

The FIA's existing regulations require teams to operate as separate "competitors," but the Concorde Agreement's ownership language was written when tobacco money and family offices dominated the cap table. It does not explicitly forbid a holding company from owning two entries, provided each team fields separate personnel and does not share technical data. Brown is asking for bright-line prohibition, the kind that requires forensic accountants to enforce and creates litigation when a sponsor logo appears on two cars.

The letter matters because Brown is not a team principal shouting into a microphone after a bad qualifying session. He runs the commercial side of a team valued at roughly $2.4 billion in secondary-market chatter, and he sits in every room where the sport's next Concorde Agreement is being negotiated. His formal communication to Ben Sulayem is a negotiating position becoming public record. If the FIA adopts the language, it changes the math for every automotive boardroom considering an F1 acquisition as a hedge against declining sedan sales.

McLaren's position also reflects its own exposure. The team operates without a major OEM backer, relying instead on Mercedes power units and a sponsor roster heavy on Gulf State wealth and technology brands. If Audi's ownership of Sauber becomes the template, McLaren risks being the last independent team on a grid where factory backing determines budgets. Brown's letter is as much about preventing competitive disadvantage as it is about regulatory purity.

The FIA has not yet responded. Ben Sulayem's presidency has been marked by public fights over technical regulations and financial transparency, but ownership structures are governed by the Concorde Agreement, which requires consent from Formula 1 Management and the teams themselves. Any rule change would need sign-off from Liberty Media and a majority of the 10 team principals, several of whom would benefit from looser ownership restrictions if their own shareholders decide to consolidate.

Watch for McLaren's language to appear in the 2026-2030 Concorde Agreement draft circulating among team lawyers this spring. If Brown cannot secure an explicit ban, expect him to push for disclosure requirements that make common ownership structures expensive to audit and harder to justify to regulators in Brussels and Washington. The alternative is a grid where three holding companies own six teams, and the sport's competitive narrative becomes a boardroom script.

Audi begins competition as a constructor in 2026. By then, the FIA will have either closed the door Brown is pointing at or left it open wide enough for GM, Ford, and whichever Chinese battery consortium is courting Alpine this month.