Zak Brown: Formula 1 teams should have less decision-making power
McLaren team principal Zak Brown criticizes the power granted to the teams in F1 decisions. A power that the teams take advantage of to serve their own interests at the expense of other teams.
Zak Brown, general manager of the McLaren team, recently shared his opinion on the influence of Formula 1 teams in FIA decisions. According to him, F1 teams should see their decision-making power reduced to allow the FIA to do its job properly and assert their role as a leader. Decision-making power used with bad intentions, he believes.
A power struggle
Zak Brown, whose team is one of the most successful this year, emphasizes that Formula 1 teams are pitting themselves against each other by seeking to maximize their personal advantages instead of focusing on the good of the sport. Decisions that can have consequences for some teams, while others will benefit. “I believe that teams are collectively responsible for creating many problems themselves, as we complicate things too much when it comes to race cars and regulations,” the director had expressed in the media.
This explanation came after he noticed that discussions between teams led to endless debates and compromises that are not necessarily beneficial for Formula 1 as a whole. He believes that teams should have less authority, especially when it comes to decisions requiring a supermajority, where eight out of ten teams must approve a proposal for it to be accepted. « I would like teams to have less authority. We need to give more power back to Formula 1 and the FIA to do what they believe is best for the sport. I think sometimes we are our own biggest problem,” he said.
A new system for voting
To address this issue, Zak Brown proposes to return to the concept of a majority established at 50%, which would make it easier to solve various problems encountered. But according to him, his opinion is not unanimous in the paddock. « Teams want to have the opportunity to influence the result,” says the director.
He notably mentioned an incident involving Lando Norris, who had accumulated numerous penalty points. Although McLaren believed that most of the points were not for dangerous reasons, Otmar Szafnauer, then team principal of Alpine, had a different opinion. The French team’s opinion could have led to a suspension of Lando Norris, which would have greatly favored the other teams.
The following year, Szafnauer had changed his position when Pierre Gasly avoided a suspension after an accident with his teammate. A change of opinion that Zak Brown did not hesitate to point out. « Otmar used exactly the same arguments as us, and we said: ‘Dude, you voted against us.’ He didn’t even know what he had voted for. »
For McLaren’s team principal, the teams’ attitude is unhealthy. He wants to eliminate these votes that serve personal interests and wants to allow the FIA to make decisions alone. « Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. There may be times when we lose something in the short term because we would prefer to block a proposal. But in the long term, it would be better for the sport, and we would all benefit if we were in a sport where there is complete fairness and everyone has the same chances,” Zak Brown admits.
The centralization of decisions within the FIA could allow problems to be resolved more effectively and improve fairness in the sport. Zak Brown remains convinced that this strategy could be beneficial in the long term for all teams and would ensure equal opportunities without being driven by individual interests.
