FIA President: Owning two teams is wrong

      The FIA is examining the issue of whether to allow Mercedes to own two Formula 1 teams, as the Stuttgart-based company is looking into acquiring a stake in Alpine F1. Negotiations on this began several months ago, and Flavio Briatore confirmed this, which we reported in March. Mohammed ben Sulayem, the president of the federation, stated in an interview with Reuters at the Miami Grand Prix that he personally opposes such a development, although he understands Mercedes' interest. Currently, there is only one similar example – Red Bull owns Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls, which operate independently of each other, however, all drivers are contracted with the Austrian company, and specialists can move freely between teams without a mandatory "gardening leave." Opponents' opinions on this matter have been expressed by Zak Brown, emphasizing that McLaren is at a disadvantage in this context, especially when inviting employees from other teams, and he is generally against Mercedes also becoming co-owners of Alpine. According to Mohammed ben Sulayem, for several teams to have common owners, there must be some compelling reasons: "Perhaps this can be agreed upon, unless you are trying to acquire a stake in a team just so it doesn't go to others, or to gain the ability to influence voting on regulations. In such cases, I believe that owning two teams would be wrong – this is my personal opinion, but we are studying this issue because it pertains to a rather complex area." In the context of the story regarding the 24% stake in Alpine F1 owned by the Otro Capital holding, the name of Christian Horner, the former head of Red Bull Racing who lost his position last July, also comes up. The FIA president believes that Horner will return to Formula 1 in one capacity or another: "Who can erase Christian Horner's name from the history of motorsport and Formula 1? It's impossible. He has always been successful, but as we know, successful people have enemies. If you ask me, we miss him, and I personally do too. I keep in touch with him; he has brought great benefit to our sport. And he wants to return. I communicate with him regularly, and it seems to me that he will come back. When that happens, it will be like returning from vacation. Horner is a very bright personality; we need such people in our sport."