Red Bull's VCARB Ownership Thrown Under Spotlight Again With New Calls For FIA Action

The recent Fastest Lap situation at the Singapore Grand Prix has reignited concerns about Red Bull's dual-team ownership in Formula 1.

May 4, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen (1) during F1 qualifying for Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Red Bull Racing's ownership of sister team Visa Cash App RB (VCARB) has been thrown into the spotlight once again after the Singapore Grand Prix.

The questions surrounding the fairness of the situation between the two teams were raised again after VCARB instructed Daniel Ricciardo to pit for soft tires on the penultimate lap of the Singapore Grand Prix.

Although this is common practice for teams to attempt to secure the bonus point for the Fastest Lap, it has come under the microscope as the Australian driver was running in the eighteenth position at the time, so he would not secure the point anyway. And more importantly, it took the point from Max Verstappen's direct championship rival, Lando Norris.

VCARB team chief Laurent Mekies responded to questions at the time, claiming that the decision was made to give Ricciardo a chance to end what would be his last F1 race with the team on a high note. He commented, as previously reported by Sports Illustrated:

"You have to give credit to the guy. Daniel had a crazy weekend to go through.

“I don't think I saw him once in any moment of the race weekend losing one ounce of professionalism in or out of the car. Even though the pressure was becoming higher and higher and higher.

“The guy does all the [Singapore] race at the back, fighting every lap, putting some good laps in, and is unable to pass.

“We just thought it was the right thing to do - to give him that chance in the context in which the weekend had been.

“It's as simple as giving the guy a chance in what has been a crazy weekend.

“It's like: give him a break, give him a chance to post a good lap and finish this weekend on a high.”

Now, former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has discussed the move on the Red Flags podcast, commenting:

"This fastest lap, it was a little bit weird when it came, you know. I think that the issue there is that in a sport like Formula 1, no owner should have two teams. You never get away from the suspicion that there are team orders between teams, not just within one team.

"If Sauber would have made the fastest lap, would anybody be worried about it? No. The problem lies in that it’s owned by the same owners.

"I guess we have to respect what Red Bull did at the time... Minardi was struggling. They would have gone away without a saviour. So F1 has developed a lot since them days, and for the future, maybe there needs to be a fix to this one that nobody can own two teams.”

He continued:

"But I think it shouldn’t be as radical as saying, ‘Oh, in the next Concorde Agreement or commercial agreement, this needs to be sorted’”

"For the future, maybe there needs to be a fix... In the end, you cannot tell them what to do with their teams, but in the future, there needs to be thoughts about that."