Nothing Illegal About Red Bull-RB Relationship Says VCARB Boss

The chief executive of the Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team has come out on the front foot, strongly rejecting criticism of its increasingly close association with its parent team, Red Bull Racing, saying his team is fully compliant with regulations.

Zak Brown of McLaren has been at the forefront of criticism regarding what he terms “A-B” teams, a clear allusion to Red Bull’s apparent strategy to tighten the technical collaboration between the two Formula 1 teams it possesses for the 2024 F1 season. 

“The definition of a constructor is someone who develops their own intellectual property,” McLaren CEO Brown insists. “The FIA really needs to do something about it.”

After Red Bull Racing stunned the Formula 1 world with a 2024 car concept that closely resembles the failed and scrapped Mercedes version of 2022-2023, some have noticed that the newly-renamed Visa Cash App RB car also has some suspiciously similar features.

‘RB’ driver Yuki Tsunoda is happy that the team has become closer to its ultra-dominant sister team.

“Obviously there are rules about the extent to which we can work together, and the rules are the same for everyone,” said the Japanese. “We’ll see how much closer we can work together, but I think it’s definitely a positive sign that we can also get a bit of knowledge from the winning car.”

New ‘VCARB’ CEO Peter Bayer insists the Red Bull teams are doing nothing wrong.

“All the teams are under close observation,” he is quoted as saying by Speed Week. “Of course Red Bull Racing and Visa Cash App RB cooperate, but within the limits of what is permitted. And the regulations are very precise.”

And Bayer said the two teams were also working together early in 2023, when Alpha Tauri was for a time dead last in the constructors’ standings.

“And when you’re behind, no one in Formula 1 is interested,” he insisted.