Wolff-Alpine, FIA is on alert. Ben Sulayem warns: “Personally I am against it”

Brown’s attack In the F1 paddock the latest political battle that is pitting the various teams against one another seems to be the one over the so-called ‘B teams’. Before the Miami weekend there had been a direct attack by McLaren CEO Zak Brown on this system of interdependence of the teams among themselves: the American manager had criticized the timeshare of Red Bull (which has managed two teams for 20 years now, Red Bull and Racing Bulls), the close technical and personnel collaboration between Ferrari and Haas and also the hypothesis of an entry of Toto Wolff and Mercedes into the shareholding structure of the Alpine team. The Austrian manager and the Stella company are in fact in negotiations to acquire 24% of the Enstone team, put up for sale by the investment fund Otro Capital. Ben Sulayem against the Wolff-Alpine agreement Brown’s complaints now seem to have found a rather relevant possible response in the president of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem. In fact, as reported by Reuters, the federation’s number one spoke to journalists present in Miami saying that he was “personally against” this type of interdependence between the different teams on the grid. “As long as you don’t try to acquire it (the share) because you don’t want others to acquire it, or even to get more voting power when it comes to the regulations, then maybe it’s fine – acknowledged the number one of the FIA ​​- but in general I think that owning two (teams) is not the right way. This is my personal point of view, but we are examining the issue because it is a complicated area”. Red Bull waits Given that there had also been talk of an interest from the former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner regarding the Alpine shares, the rumor had circulated in the paddock that Wolff wanted to acquire those shares also to keep his historic rival out of the Circus. A reconstruction which, however, was denied by the person directly involved. It now remains to be seen whether the FIA ​​will really take an official position on this thorny issue or whether Ben Sulayem’s words will remain personal. In fact, a ‘veto’ of Wolff’s entry into Alpine could automatically call into question Red Bull’s legitimacy of managing two teams under the same ownership.

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News
2026-05-05 16:31:00