McLaren demand ‘less authority’ for F1 teams after ‘pretty embarrassing principal meetings’

Zak Brown of McLaren on the pit wall in Canada

Zak Brown didn’t hold back in discussing his view that Formula 1 teams should have less sway in voting on the application of FIA rules, saying that the team principal meetings can get “pretty embarrassing” as everyone votes for rules that benefit their teams in the short term.

The McLaren CEO has admitted that he’d prefer teams have “less authority,” and that the ultimate decision making and application of the rules be left to Formula 1 and FIA in order to create a fairer and better sport.

McLaren: “Take this ‘what’s good for me today’ vote out of the system”

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper and Thomas Maher

Speaking to media at the British Grand Prix, including PlanetF1.com, Zak Brown addressed his concerns that giving F1 team principals too much sway in deciding on and applying rules creates inconsistent rulings in “embarrassing” team principal meetings.

“It does make you wonder, how did we go racing without any of this stuff for as long as we did and not have any of these controversies?” Brown asked, regarding the penalties applied to Lando Norris and Max Verstappen after their contact at the Austrian Grand Prix.

“I think the teams collectively are pretty guilty of creating a lot of these issues themselves by overcomplicating what we want in race cars, what we want on regulations,” Brown continued, “because something will happen, and we’ll all spend an inordinate amount of time getting into so much detail, and we don’t necessarily think about the unintended consequences.

“So that comes back to my view, which I think I’ve been consistent on — I’d like to see the teams have less authority as much of a voice through voting for all these different things that we vote on.

“We’re all conflicted in some way at some point, and the threshold for teams to be able to rally together to block something that is not in there…

“I think we do need to give more of the power back to Formula 1 and the FIA to do what’s right for the sport.

“I think we’re our own worst problem.”

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Brown noted that these changes would need to come in the next draft of the Concorde Agreement — but that he may be in the minority in his beliefs.

“Not everyone is on the same page, because they want to have the ability to influence the outcome,” Brown said.

“It can be pretty embarrassing at times in the team principal meetings.”

Brown pointed to one particular example.

“When Lando was up on penalty points two years ago, we made our case that actually the majority of his penalty points weren’t dangerous, and Otmar [Szafnauer of Alpine] was totally against it, because obviously everyone wanted to get Lando banned.

“Fast forward 12 months, Gasly’s up against it. Otmar brings forward the same exact case that we brought forward, and we were like, dude, you voted against that.

“He didn’t even know where he voted.”

Brown stated that that kind of mindset was “not healthy,” as it results in an application of rules that relies largely on how a team feels in the moment as opposed to teams deciding on what would be good for the future of Formula 1.

He continued that Formula 1 needs “to take this kind of ‘what’s good for me today’ vote out of the system” and “let the FIA and Formula 1 regulate for the fairness of the sport.

“[That] means you’re going to win some and lose some, and there could be some times that [McLaren] loses in the short term,” Brown admitted.

“But I believe McLaren want to race in a fair and sporting and equitable way, which means sometimes it means it might go for you, sometimes it might go against you, but over the long haul, if we’re all in a sport that is about total fairness, and things are equal for everyone, I think that’s just a better sport, and we all win.”

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