McLaren makes demand over long-standing F1 controversy

Andrea Stella has reiterated McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown's position on multi-team ownership in F1, insisting that it could be a "championship between independent constructors."

The team principal of the Woking-based squad underlined the stance that this principle "should be enforced totally" to ensure fairness between competitors.

Recently, Brown penned a letter to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, in which he outlined his long-standing stance that alliances between teams undermines sporting integrity.

"What Zak has expressed, representing the opinion and the position of McLaren, is part of a process that we wanted to be constructive and healthy, but also very clear," Stella told media, including RacingNews365, whilst sitting alongside Red Bull and Racing Bulls team principals Laurent Mekies and Alan Permane in an FIA press conference.

"Very clear on a principle that I would really be curious to see if any of the stakeholders in Formula 1 disagrees with, and the fact that this is a championship between independent constructors.

"We believe very strongly that this principle should be enforced totally. And the reason why we want this principle and this point to be discussed is because we think, from a practical point of view, there's more that we should do.

"We are happy with how this is being received."

Brown called out Red Bull GmbH — which owns Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls, and is the most obvious example within F1 — whilst citing numerous examples of compromise from the latter to the former.

The energy drinks manufacturer has owned the Milton Keynes-based squad since 2005 and purchased what was then the struggling Minardi team a year later, something that was to the benefit of F1 at the time.

Haas' relationship with Ferrari was highlighted as another relationship at risk from conflicts of interest.

Stella argued that the contentious issue is underpinned by consensus amongst F1's stakeholders.

"I think, like I said before, there's some philosophical agreement by basically all the stakeholders," the Italian added.

"It's now the time for the F1 community to think about: how do we implement it fully, such that the fairness in the game and in the competition is fully achieved, and also, the true extent of the technical, sporting and financial regulations is also brought to life."