McLaren CEO Zak Brown fears current Formula 1 regulations are “diminishing” the importance of a “true constructor”.
Formula 1 rulers have recently taken steps to ensure a level playing field for all 10 teams.
That means there is a budget cap, there are new technical regulations for this year’s championship and there is a list of parts that teams can buy from each other.
This parts list has largely allowed Aston Martin to field a Mercedes Formula 1 car, AlphaTauri to be heavily favored by Red Bull, and Haas to lean on Ferrari.
And that, Brown says, distracts from what it should mean to be a designer.
“The threat posed by A and B teams has not gone away and it is important that the governance of the sport is strengthened to prevent that,” the McLaren boss said.
“Today’s regulations are heavily geared towards B teams/customer teams, which doesn’t correspond to the F1 principle of a group of real constructors competing on equal terms. It diminishes what it means to be an F1 team and the structure of the sport.
“F1 needs to be 10 true constructors where each team – apart from sharing the PU and possibly the internals of the gearbox – has to design and produce all the parts relevant to performance.
“Right now there are too many differences in business models between the teams. Trying to apply the same complex rules to everyone and then effectively monitoring them is unnecessarily complicated and compromised.”
The American reckons all teams should be able to operate independently, especially given F1’s new budget cap introduced last season and reduced by a further $5m this year.
But not only the B teams are supported by the A teams, Brown fears that the A teams also benefit from a B team.
It should be noted that McLaren is one of the few standalone teams on the grid.
“This limited-cost environment should allow teams to become more recognizable, self-contained entities within a realistic budget,” he said, “without worrying about significant differences in performance depending on how much each team is able to spend.”
“In short, the current situation allows B-Teams to be over-competitive compared to constructors, and A-Teams can be over-competitive by having the advantage of a B-Team.
“Without a fix, the state of affairs means any team with championship aspirations must have a B-Team and that’s just not Formula 1.
“Furthermore, the voting pressure that A-Teams place on their B-Teams is inconsistent with the promotion of fair sport based on individual team performance. As I’ve said before – and these teams won’t admit it – there are times when some smaller teams will vote against their own interests to satisfy their A-Team’s agenda.”
