Red Bull open to major F1 rule change after McLaren demand

Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies has signalled that the team would be open to further steps to ensure all 11 teams are independent, following a letter from Zak Brown to the FIA.

The McLaren CEO recently wrote to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to continue his campaign to try to get dual-team ownership in F1 outlawed, citing multiple examples of where he felt independence had not been followed.

Currently, nine of F1's 11 teams are owned by different entities, with Red Bull GmbH owning the remaining two, Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls.

This has been the case since 2006, but Brown has cited the closeness between the two as a reason multi-team ownership should be banned in grand prix racing, as it is in other sports, including in football, where in UEFA competitions, two teams owned by the same figure cannot compete in the same competition.

Nominally, Red Bull and Racing Bulls are competitors, with Brown raising the case of Mekies' own transfer across in July 2025 from team principal at Faenza to Red Bull boss to replace Christian Horner.

Mekies did not have to serve the expected gardening leave for such a senior figure moving teams, with Brown also questioning the apparent with which Max Verstappen was allowed to pass Liam Lawson in Miami, despite the Red Bull having forced the Racing Bulls off the track on the opening lap.

Responding to the McLaren chief's letter, Mekies said that Red Bull would be happy to see tighter rules in place if they were voted for.

"We all want 11 teams racing independently on track, and we have made many steps as a sport in recent weeks, in recent months, in recent years, to try to ensure more and more independence from every team racing on track," Mekies told media, including RacingNews365.

"If any stakeholders, let it be another team or anyone else, feel that more steps are needed to ensure 11 teams race independently, we would support. 

"We don’t think it’s a matter of core ownerships or strategic supply. We think there are very many different ways in which teams are collaborating in the pit lane: power unit supply, gearbox supply, suspension supply, partial ownerships, full ownerships. 

"We are completely supportive of taking any further step to ensure that, regardless of our strategic partnership or regardless of our ownership structure, we race independently on track. 

"We feel that is the case today. We will, regardless, completely encourage any further steps that we feel are needed as a sport."