Laurent Mekies Escalates War Of Words With Zak Brown

Laurent Mekies, the newly appointed chief of Red Bull’s freshly renamed secondary Formula 1 squad, has robustly dismissed claims that the team’s association with Red Bull Racing has become excessively intertwined.

The transition from AlphaTauri to the notably cumbersome title of Visa Cash App RB for the 2024 season has been accompanied by significant organizational changes, primarily aimed at bolstering the collaboration with the main Red Bull Racing team.

Zak Brown, McLaren’s CEO, has been vocally critical, calling on the FIA to take a firmer stance against what he dubs ‘B teams.’ However, Mekies insists that the operations of Red Bull and RB are entirely legitimate.

“We respect the regulations 100 percent,” he told Ouest France newspaper.

“If anyone has any doubts about this, let them explain their doubts. The FIA will carry out an investigation and show the results.”

Mekies notes that Red Bull having two teams now dates back a full two decades, during which time the rules have become “extremely clear on what a team can and cannot share with another team”.

“We are a sport where it is very difficult to copy another car, so sharing an engine, a gearbox, a suspension, does not allow us – unfortunately – to have the level of performance of the team that gives us these elements. Otherwise it would be too easy,” he said.

The Frenchman said Red Bull is being wrongly demonised for its A-B team collaboration.

“It’s a fear not in reality,” said Mekies, “because we have ten years of history which shows that it has never miraculously allowed a team to make a leap in performance.

“If we want to make this leap, that’s not what it’s going to happen through. It is through investments, recruitment, strengthening, organising the team in a sustainable way.”

One of Zak Brown’s biggest concerns, however, is that ‘A-B’ team collaborations hands Red Bull an advantage in other ways – like an effectively doubled political influence.

“It doesn’t change anything,” Mekies hits back, “neither in the work we have to do to become more competitive – hence the strengthening of the team which becomes more independent every day – nor in our freedom and duty to fight with the nine other teams on the track.

“We buy certain components from Red Bull,” he admits, “but we remain independent competitors.”