Racing Bulls boss Laurent Mekies doesn’t understand those criticising his team for using Red Bull’s Formula 1 components.
The two Red Bull teams are moving towards greater synergy with Racing Bulls using F1’s regulations to their full extent when it comes to sharing components.
That means this year’s Racing Bull will feature the power unit, gearbox, and front and rear suspension from its senior counterpart.
Racing Bulls also uses the Red Bull wind tunnel and is moving into a new aerodynamics department on the senior outfit’s Milton Keynes campus.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown has repeatedly voiced his concerns with this model, saying F1 shouldn’t allow multi-team ownership.
Haas employs a similar model as Racing Bulls as it shares as many components with Ferrari as is possible under F1’s regulations.
It’s worth noting that both Racing Bulls and Haas finished in the bottom half of the Constructors’ standings in 2024 and herein lies Mekies’ confusion with critics.
“There was a level of hype at the beginning of last year where, I guess people felt there could be some magic in the fact that somebody takes a gearbox and suspension,” Mekies told motorsport.com.
“But it’s not a new regulation. It’s been there for 15 years, and you have never seen guys that will be taking these items from somebody else, suddenly fighting for the championship, or fighting for the top three or the top four, it just never happened.”
Mekies concedes that “it is what it is” and “lobbying is part of Formula 1.
“But I think the reality of the grid is that probably more than ever, you had the top four teams and the rest of the world,” he added.
“And I think as a sport, the shareable components are very much there for that, to avoid that you have a division one and division two, and that we can race with 20 cars in a competitive, tight field.
“And I think from that standpoint, nothing has changed.
“Do you expect that 2026 regulations will produce something else? No, if anything, the grid may be more spread out at the beginning of ’26 because that’s what new regulations do.
“So anything you have that can avoid that spread to be too big is good.”
Mekies is correct that the top four teams in F1 enjoy a considerable margin over the competition.
Mercedes finished fourth in the 2024 standings with 468, 374 ahead of fifth-placed Aston Martin.
Red Bull, in third, finished with 589 points and Racing Bulls (as RB) finished 543 further back in eighth despite the sharing of components.
Fans don’t care whose gearbox you use – Mekies
F1 is big on ensuring the field is as closely competitive as possible and inexpensive as possible.
It has helped do this through factors such as the list of shareable components, cost cap regulations, a fairer dishing out of prize money and the sliding scale of aerodynamic testing favouring teams lower in the standings.
The desired result is a greater racing spectacle for fans to enjoy and Mekies ponders “Do the fans care if you have your own gearbox or not?
“But you could push the thinking a bit further,” he continued.
“Is it right to spend that kind of money on gearbox development? What for? So, I think it was just a sensible decision made at a time when we are trying to keep the cost under control and to get the field a bit less spread out.
“And I think it contributed to that and it allows a business model like ours or Haas’ to exist without needing to add another X amount of people.
“We are more than 600 for a midfield team. I think it should be enough to run two cars,” Mekies concluded.
READ MORE – Racing Bulls moves into ‘game-changing’ new aero facility on Red Bull campus
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