Racing Bulls say Zak Brown’s claim about Red Bull relationship is ‘absolutely not true’

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Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane has addressed Zak Brown’s criticism of their relationship with Red Bull.

McLaren CEO Brown has long argued that Racing Bulls effectively function as the Red Bull B team, which he says damages F1’s sporting integrity.

In the spring, Brown aired his grievances in a letter to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem that was leaked to the media.

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Alan Permane unhappy with Zak Brown’s tactics in Racing Bulls dispute

Brown complained about the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, where Racing Bulls driver Daniel Ricciardo successfully pursued the fastest lap despite being well outside the points. This took a point away from Lando Norris, who was fighting Max Verstappen for the title.

More recently, he questioned why Liam Lawson was instructed to let Verstappen past at the start of May’s Miami GP when the Dutchman appeared to have forced him off the track.

Red Bull’s recruitment from their sister team also came under scrutiny. Laurent Mekies became team principal with immediate effect when Christian Horner was sacked last year, and Brown alleged that engineer Andrea Landi wasn’t made to serve an appropriate period of gardening leave either.

Landi’s move was announced in April ahead of a July start date.

“I think Zak is doing what he should be doing, which is fighting the fight on all fronts,” Permane said on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast. “He’s not fighting us, of course, he’s fighting with Red Bull.”

He added: “He’s doing what he can to unsettle things, make things unstable. I think the way he went about it wasn’t particularly nice, writing an open letter. I would have been super happy if he’d just picked the phone up and we’d had a chat.

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“He wrote this open letter that had several inaccuracies, saying that our staff are leaving with minimal or no notice periods, and that’s just not true. It’s absolutely not true.

“He specifically talks about this deputy technical director who’s gone to Red Bull Racing [Landi]. He said, ‘This all happened within a couple of months.’ It’s not true at all. I knew about that in September last year, that he wanted to leave and wanted to go to Red Bull Racing.

“I specifically didn’t let him leave until April time, and then he had to serve three months’ gardening leave as well, which is in the FIA regulations.”

• READ MORE: Why Red Bull are ‘insistent’ they should not be ‘forced’ to sell Racing Bulls amid Zak Brown’s fury

Permane summarised: “There’s inaccuracies there. I also see it from Zak’s point of view. I see what he’s doing. No offence taken. But honestly, to be on this side of it, and see that we are operating fairly and within the rules… we put a lot of effort into making sure that we are respecting the regulations.”

Concerningly for Red Bull, Brown’s message appears to have got through. Ben Sulayem says the FIA are investigating dual ownership, which could lead to stricter regulations.

Over the weekend, The Times reported that Red Bull have rejected £2.2bn bid for Racing Bulls. There is no indication that they are actively looking to sell before any new restrictions are introduced.