Zak Brown has protested Red Bull’s ownership of the VCARB team (Image: Getty)
has backed up ’s theory that ’s ownership situation offers an unfair advantage to . The debate was reignited at the after dived into the pits late on to take the fastest lap point away from race leader .
and have always maintained that the two organisations operate independently, with insisting that the Faenza-based team do not offer a competitive advantage to the sister team.
However, whether intended or not, this was not the case in Singapore. Ricciardo’s fastest lap attempt ensured that Verstappen retained an extra point relative to Norris in the standings and given that the duo are trending towards a final-race showdown in Abu Dhabi, this could prove critical at the season’s end.
Brown, who has repeatedly questioned the ownership situation in the past, was quick to point out the inconsistencies after the race. “That’s a nice A/B team sporting thing that I didn’t think was allowed…” he told SiriusXM. “But hey, that’s not the first time we’ve seen it, probably won’t be the last.
“I’ll certainly ask some questions. It’s something I’ve spoken about in the past and I think it illustrates that it does happen because I think you wouldn’t have made that pit stop to go for that. It’s not going to get anyone a point, so I think it does illustrate the issue around that topic.”
Now, Brown has an ally. Speaking on the Red Flags podcast, former Haas boss Steiner said: “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 One, no owner should have two teams.
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Guenther Steiner was also concerned by Ricciardo’s fastest lap attempt (Image: Getty)
“You never get away from the suspicion that there is team orders between teams, not in one team, between teams. I guess we have to respect what did at the time, because I was involved in it when they bought Minardi, Mr. Mateschitz. F1 was struggling. 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. 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’. No.
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“What put into F1 to make it what it is now, it’s quite amazing, so in the end, you cannot tell them what to do with their teams. But in the future, there needs to be thoughts about that. How can we avoid this? Because if Visa Cash App [RB] wasn’t owned by the same owner as , nobody would have had the suspicion.
“Everybody would have said it’s the last hooray from . If, for example, the Sauber would have made the fastest lap, would anybody be worried about it? No. So the problem lies, in that one, that it’s owned by the same owners.”