Laurent Mekies has publicly challenged critics to examine the on-track battles between Red Bull and Racing Bulls this season as proof the teams do not cooperate.
The Racing Bulls team principal made the comments after the Barcelona Grand Prix, where the topic of common ownership was raised despite no obvious incident prompting the discussion.
“Look, we are supporting 11 teams racing independently on track,” Mekies said, also pointing to strict regulations and self-imposed rules around personnel transfers between the two outfits.
He then invited the media to review the racing between the two Red Bull-owned teams throughout the season, noting that his car was uncompetitive in the early rounds.
The debate around dual ownership has long followed the Red Bull organisation, with Zak Brown writing a letter to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem outlining concerns about structures that could enable unsporting cooperation.
Brown specifically cited Daniel Ricciardo’s fastest lap in the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, where the Australian pitted late for no obvious reason and denied Lando Norris a point while he was chasing Max Verstappen in the championship.
The 2026 season has offered plenty of data to assess, beginning in Australia where Arvid Lindblad made a forceful opening lap move around the outside of Isack Hadjar through the fast Turns 11 and 12 section.
Lindblad repeatedly battled Hadjar throughout that race in what was described as yo-yo racing, showing little willingness to simply yield to the Red Bull driver or to Verstappen when the champion came through.
The most dramatic evidence came at the Japanese Grand Prix, where Lindblad defended so aggressively against Hadjar that race control issued the Racing Bulls driver a black-and-white warning flag.
“What the f*** he’s doing,” Hadjar complained over team radio, and his engineer responded with a firm “we’re reporting him” as the pair scrapped over position at Suzuka.
Hadjar later sarcastically asked “What happened to that idiot?” over the radio after finally getting ahead of Lindblad following a strategic pitstop, underlining the genuine tension between the two drivers.
The Miami Grand Prix did provide a moment that attracted scrutiny, when Liam Lawson was instructed to hand a position back to Verstappen after a disputed incident at Turn 11.
“Liam, we need to give the position back to Max,” his engineer radioed. “Do it as soon as possible.”
Lawson pushed back firmly, saying “He drove into the side of me. I don’t understand,” before reluctantly complying one lap later.
The New Zealander later admitted the team made an error, saying “We made a mistake. We shouldn’t have done that – just because the move was actually Max’s fault.”
Lawson added that the short time available to make race decisions explained the call, stating “If we’d do that again, we wouldn’t have done the same thing.”
The broader concern about common ownership, as Mekies himself acknowledged, extends beyond track battles to personnel movements and potential intellectual property transfers, topics unlikely to disappear from the sport’s agenda.
Mekies notably switched roles between Racing Bulls and Red Bull without a gardening leave period, which critics see as a clear example of the structural advantages dual ownership provides.
For now, the on-track evidence from 2026 largely supports the Racing Bulls principal’s assertion, though the most meaningful test would come in a title-deciding situation late in the season.