Formula 1 is in the process of revising sporting regulations to restrict A/B teams, such as Red Bull and Racing Bulls, from colluding where one can assist the other during the course of a Grand Prix.
The topic of teams bound by some form of partnership working together to the detiment of one of its rivals has been a hot button issue for some time.
One of the most recent examples came at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, when Red Bull utilised its junior squad RB to prevent Lando Norris scoring a World Championship point.
Norris was on course to take an extra point for fastest lap on top of his Grand Prix win, but a late switch to Soft tyres for Daniel Ricciardo saw the Aussie snatch the fastest lap at the end of the race.
At the time, McLaren CEO Zak Brown conveyed his displeasure with the incident, saying: “That’s a nice A/B team sporting thing that I didn’t think was allowed. But hey, that’s not the first time we’ve seen it, probably won’t be the last.”
The tactic also irked its Team Principal Andrea Stella, who said F1 was “not a coalition championship”.
Whilst Brown later rowed back and said that A/B tactics are allowed, he followed up by saying: “I have an issue with the rules – and believe the FIA needs to address this.”
Brown may just get his wish, with The Race reporting that there will be a revision of its ‘operational regulations’, which could mean a rewrite of Section F, in order to curb the deployment of teams such as Red Bull and Racing Bulls working together.
Tombazis working on ‘clarification’ to stop Red Bull-like collaborations
The FIA’s Single Seater Director Nikolas told The Race that the sport’s governing body is working on ways to ensure that teams working together can be somewhat truncated.
“We are working on clarifying more how teams, let’s call them A- and B-teams, operate in terms of putting in provisions that stops those that have some sort of close relationship from helping each other or collaboratin,” he said.
“We are putting some provisions on the IT side, to make sure that IT systems are segregated, so they cannot share designs, or anything like that.
“And there will also be physical segregation and what details of what provisions need to be respected.”
Tombazis acknowledged that whilst the rules will be in place to create a fairer playing field, there will be a need to make sure teams can agree on the terms.
“There’s already a lot of provisions, but it is a very complicated set of conditions that teams need to satisfy,” he said.
“We’re trying to formalise some of these things into some regulatory structure, so teams can’t play different games.
“We also want to satisfy the teams that don’t have any affiliation, that the key teams that do have a relationship of some sort do not gain an unfair advantage.”
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