The CEO of the team formerly known as Alpha Tauri insists its closer-than-before relationship with parent team Red Bull Racing is above board.
McLaren’s Zak Brown has been leading the charge against what he describes as "A-B" teams - clearly a reference to Red Bull having obviously moved the technical alliance of the two F1 teams it owns much closer together for 2024.
"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.