Red Bull almost parted ways with Racing Bulls at the beginning of the season
Red Bull considered reducing its operations to a single team in 2024, before ultimately deciding to keep its two teams. A decision that has sparked criticism from its rivals, calling into question the sporting fairness of this structure.
The CEO of Red Bull, Peter Bayer, recently revealed that the company had considered reducing its activities in Formula 1 to a single team, before the start of the 2024 season. This project would have involved selling or stopping the “sister” team, which now operates under the name Visa Cash App RB. Red Bull ultimately decided to keep its two teams, with the aim of giving a new impetus to Racing Bulls (RB).
Racing Bulls: a well-established team
The Faenza team, formerly known as Toro Rosso (2006-2019) and then AlphaTauri (2020-2023), is now renamed RB. Instead of separating from it, Red Bull has chosen to strengthen the team with new partners like Visa and Cash App, while aiming to make it more competitive on the grid.
« Red Bull has defined a strategy, as I don’t think it was a secret that they were discussing whether they really needed to keep both teams », Bayer told Motorsport Week.
(c) But they quickly came to the conclusion that “no, we want to keep both teams,” because there are many positive aspects,” he added.
Improve the competitiveness of RB.
The director of the RB team, Laurent Mekies, explained that Red Bull is looking to optimize the use of this second team within the framework of technical regulations: « They felt that they needed a fresh start in terms of team positioning, both in terms of identity and competitiveness. »
Red Bull also wishes to explore synergies between its two teams, while respecting the limitations imposed by the regulations: “We want to see if it is wise to do everything the regulations allow us to do,” said Mekies.
Red Bull’s rivals are worried.
Red Bull’s dual ownership in F1 has sparked criticism. McLaren CEO, Zak Brown, is one of the main opponents of this structure. He fears that it may harm the sporting fairness in the competition.
His concerns were further heightened after a strategic stop by Daniel Ricciardo during the Singapore Grand Prix, which prevented Lando Norris from scoring a crucial point in the championship.
Brown accused Red Bull of manipulating the results to favor Max Verstappen in his fight for the title: « It’s a nice sporting tactic A/B that I didn’t think was authorized ».
The CEO of McLaren raises questions here about the impact of dual ownership on competition.
