Red Bull’s Christian Horner hits back at critics of two-team ownership

SAKHIR – Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner hit back at Zak Brown on Feb 22 for questioning the energy drink company’s ownership of two Formula One teams and their close ties.

McLaren chief executive officer Brown has urged the governing body FIA to reconsider the rules that have allowed what he has called an “A and B team collaboration”.

Champions Red Bull won 21 of 22 races last season and closer co-operation with Visa Cash App RB, eighth in the standings in 2023 as AlphaTauri, could see the sister team become far more competitive.

Brown, in an FIA press conference at pre-season testing in Bahrain, said he did not know of any other sport that allowed co-ownership of two teams competing against each other.

Horner, who is himself fighting for his own future after allegations from a female employee about his “improper” conduct which he denies, said in the same conference that Red Bull also owned two football clubs in the Champions League.

Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg and Germany’s RB Leipzig both reached the group stage of this season’s elite European club competition, with the latter in the last 16.

Horner also recalled how the late Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz saved Minardi from collapse in 2005, renaming the team Toro Rosso, and how Red Bull stayed when manufacturers left and supported the sport throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

In that regard, he said Red Bull should be applauded for that rather than “derided”.

“The two teams are totally separate. One is based in Italy, one is based in the UK. The one that is based in Italy (Visa Cash App RB) has a far larger turnover of staff that end up in Maranello rather than end up in Milton Keynes,” he added, alluding to Ferrari and Red Bull respectively.

Horner also said the relationship between the Red Bull teams was “far less tight” than some others with their engine manufacturers.

“We expect them to be a competitor, not just of the rest of the field but of Red Bull Racing,” he added. “There are no pre-set rules, no agreements between the teams.

“For me, it really is a non-issue.”

Brown added in the same press conference that, while Red Bull were “playing by the rules”, the sport was continuing to evolve with a budget cap in place and should aim for 10 independent teams.

“If the intent of the cap is to have an equal playing field... then the way the rules are currently written aren’t the same for everyone. We now need to address it and the FIA needs to address it to the rules,” he said. REUTERS