There's nothing “magic” about buying parts from Red Bull

While the model of buying as many parts as possible made by another manufacturer is often the subject of criticism, despite the fact that the F1 regulations expressly provide for it, Racing Bulls believes that the application of this has nothing “magic” and does not allow spectacular leaps in the hierarchy.

This year, the Faenza-based outfit will share the Honda engine, gearbox and front and rear suspension with Red Bull Racing, its owner's main team, as part of the greater synergy between the two teams. decided in 2023 by the energy drink brand.

This decision caused a lively debate in the 2023-2024 off-season, with certain competitors openly worrying about the abuses of the system in the context of a relationship between two teams owned by the same company and in the context of the budgetary ceiling in place since 2021. The debate on purchasing parts from a manufacturer is not in itself new, since Haas – via its relationship with Ferrari – has sometimes been the epicenter since its arrival in F1 in 2016. However, the case of Racing Bulls seemed to address slightly different issues.

Faced with the fear of seeing a sudden jump in the hierarchy from teams buying as many parts as possible from another manufacturer, the idea of ​​forcing teams to build their own parts if they ever finished in the top 5 among the manufacturers was mentioned, even if the discussion led to nothing.

And for Laurent Mekies, the director of Racing Bulls, if there is a clear interest for his team in turning to parts manufactured by Red Bull, if only in terms of competitiveness and distribution of resources, the Modest results from the 2024 season show that the advantage to be gained is not as great as some may have feared.

“There was a bit of a buzz early last year where people, I guess, thought there might be something magical about buying someone else a box of gears and suspension”declared the Frenchman Motorsport.com.

“But these rules are not new. They've been around for 15 years, and we've never seen people who bought these items from someone else suddenly fighting for the title, or for the top three or four places , that never happened. That’s the reality of things.”

“Lobbying is part of F1, but I think the reality of the grid is that, probably more than ever, you have the top four teams and the rest of the world. And I think as a sporting discipline, the Shareable parts are there for that, to avoid having a division 1 and a division 2, and so that we can have 20 cars forming a competitive and tight peloton And I think that from this point of view, nothing has changed. .”

“Do you expect the 2026 regulations to produce anything else? No, it may be that the grid is more spread out at the start of 2026, because that's what's happening with the new regulations. Therefore, anything that can prevent this dispersion from being too great is worth taking.”

Mekies added that it didn't make sense for smaller teams to produce everything in-house since the league emphasizes efficiency and sustainability within its budget cap. “Do fans care whether or not you have your own gearbox?”he then said.

“But we can take the thinking a little further. Is it normal to spend so much money on the development of a gearbox? For what? So I think it is a sensible decision taken at a time when we are trying to control costs and reduce the dispersion of the peloton.”

“And I believe that contributes to that and allows a business model like ours or Haas's to exist without needing to recruit That’s enough to run two cars!”

With Filip Cleeren