Zak Brown is not letting this one drop. The McLaren CEO has reopened the Formula 1 ownership debate, warning that any further expansion of A-B team relationships — including the possibility of Mercedes taking a stake in Alpine — would damage the sporting fairness the new regulations are supposed to protect.
Brown's intervention comes at a sensitive moment. Mercedes is publicly the strongest team on the grid in the early months of 2026 and is reportedly being courted as a potential strategic partner by Renault Group, which owns Alpine. Red Bull, meanwhile, continues to operate Racing Bulls (VCARB) as a junior team, a relationship that has been under FIA scrutiny since the new chassis rules began.
The McLaren chief was unambiguous about where he stands.
"A-B teams, we need to get away from as much as possible, as quickly as possible," Brown said.
He linked the issue directly to the integrity of the championship.
"I think it runs a real high risk of compromising the integrity of sporting fairness," he added.
"It applies to anybody and everybody," he said. "A-B teams, co-ownership. Regardless of who it is. I don't think it's healthy for the sport."
He did, though, draw a direct line to the existing arrangement at Red Bull and Racing Bulls. While critical of the structural relationship, Brown gave credit where the on-track work has visibly diverged.
"I'm glad to see, quite frankly, that the Racing Bulls and the Red Bull don't look like the same race car," Brown said. "So I think as long as it's managed, watched — but certainly adding to it I think would be a mistake for the sport."
The context behind Brown's comments is layered. McLaren has spent the last two seasons growing into a championship-fighting operation under Andrea Stella, and the team's strategic stance — Mercedes engine customer, but operationally and financially independent — has been a competitive advantage in 2026. McLaren wins are McLaren wins, not Mercedes-by-proxy wins. Brown clearly does not want a future in which Mercedes can convert one customer relationship into part-ownership of a second works team.
The Alpine angle adds another wrinkle. Renault Group has been openly looking for new commercial partners for the Enstone-based outfit, and a Mercedes link would solve some of that immediately by tying Alpine to the most powerful 2026 power unit on the grid. From a competitive standpoint, that is exactly what McLaren is worried about. From a regulatory standpoint, the FIA's existing rules on shared engineering, IP, and personnel between connected teams would have to be tested in a way they have not been since the original Force India and Toro Rosso disputes.
Brown's framing of "adding to it" matters. He is not arguing — yet — for the unwinding of the existing Red Bull and Racing Bulls relationship. He is arguing that the sport should not approve another one. That distinction is crucial because it is the test the FIA's commercial team would have to apply if a formal Mercedes-Alpine deal were tabled.
McLaren's stance also has weight behind it because the team has the on-track form to make the warning sting. Stella has McLaren in genuine title contention again, and the team's customer-engine-but-fully-independent template is increasingly being held up by F1 governance figures as the model for how customer arrangements should look.
For now, Brown's message is the same one McLaren has carried into every regulatory meeting this season. One A-B team is enough. Two is too many. And Mercedes-Alpine, however good it would be for the two parties involved, is exactly the kind of move he wants the FIA to refuse.
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*Originally published on [NewsFormula One](https://newsformula.one/article/zak-brown-mclaren-ab-teams-warning-mercedes-alpine-stake-redbull-vcarb-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
