McLaren boss, Zak Brown believes that the symbiotic relationship between the two Red Bull-owned teams is "something that needs to be addressed in the future".

His call comes at a time the FIA is set to introduce further guidelines in terms of teams sharing information, with Guenther Steiner having admitted concern at AlphaTauri's late-season improvement.

"I think, right or not right, it needs to be discussed," said the Italian recently of the Faenza outfit's relationship with sister team Red Bull. "Obviously, there are a lot of other sports where that is not allowed.

"Up to now there was not an issue with this," he added.

"We check teams that are in close proximity to each other a lot more closely than we check completely independent teams, exactly to make sure this thing doesn't happen," the FIA's single-seater chief, Nikolas Tombazis told Autosport in reaction to the comment.

"That is a concern," he admitted. "It has been a concern not only between the two teams mentioned, but also among other pairs of teams.

"We believe that AlphaTauri specifically does have quite different aerodynamic solutions to the other company, and we don't think there's any sign of any direct collaboration. Clearly, they are working hard and they have made a step forward. But I don't think it can be said it's due to collaboration.

At McLaren, Zak Brown is concerned that Red Bull was able to stop development of its 2023 contender around the time of the summer break, while AlphaTauri continued to introduce upgrades until the final race.

"The million-dollar question that none of us know is how early did they turn off this year's car?" the American tells Autosport. "We know we've outperformed the others in the development race, and we know we've closed the gap to Red Bull but what none of us know is: did Red Bull stop, and we just caught up, or were they still developing?

"We have some big concerns over the alliance between AlphaTauri and Red Bull," he admits. "I think that is something that needs to be addressed in the future. I still think the sport has a way to go to make sure that everyone is truly independent."

Red Bull bought Jaguar from Ford in 2004 and entered the sport the following season, later that same year also buying Minardi from Paul Stoddart.

Following the death of Dietrich Mateschitz last year it was thought that his son, Mark, who owns 49% of the company, might look to sell the Faenza-based outfit but has thus far resisted internal company pressure to do so.

While there has been talk of a name change, the team known to have held talks with numerous high level sponsors, including JP Morgan and Hugo Boss, the recently released entry list still shows the team as AlphaTauri.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by KKK, 23/12/2023 21:36

"What utter codswallop. The best cars are always copied, maybe he is trying to discourage anyone copying his! My advice to Zac Brown is, get on with racing, "

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2. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 23/12/2023 13:53

"20% of the cars on the grid are ultimately owned by the Red Bull parent company, but only 10% of them are designed by Adrian Newey. If it wasn't for the latter 10%, the issue of ownership would not be discussed so much."

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3. Posted by NS Biker, 22/12/2023 21:48

"If Hass was regularly taking points away form McLaren, bet there would be some comments about all the staff and technical help that Ferrari has provided.
ZB also didn't feel the need to mention that (my estimate) 25 to 30% of the McLaren car is dictated and supported by Mercedes. IC Engine, gear box, battery electrics, energy recovery, suspension mounting points and all other engine support systems. Likely some technology transfer (both ways) occuring there.
If Red Bull really wanted to jazz-up the Alpha Tauri team, there are likely more allowable means than are currently being utilized.
Franz T. commented that AT couldn't use all of what they were allowed to, simply because Red Bull (A Team) had the luxury of last-minute design and fabrication, while AT had a slower build process and needed things sooner. End result, they had to design and build their own parts.
61 days and still counting.
"

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4. Posted by TokyoAussie, 22/12/2023 7:52

"The "something" needed to be addressed before ownership of 2 teams happened. To wit, it should never have happened."

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5. Posted by kenji, 22/12/2023 1:19

"The more aggravation that can be leveraged against a competitor the better and this latest from Brown is just that. He has some pretty big expectations for '24 and he needs to ante up. A revised AT car with at least one driver hell bent on upsetting the status quo may be just giving Brown a few sleepless nights. Love it...."

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6. Posted by elsiebc, 21/12/2023 19:23

""Up to now there was not an issue with this"
kids...
Actually, Zak, there was, back in the first couple years of joint ownership, and it was dealt with. Now if those rules that were put in place back then are insufficient in your eyes, fine. Just don't go making false statements."

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Brown admits "big concerns" over Red Bull/AlphaTauri relationship

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