McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella expressed his concerns about satellite teams in Formula 1. On the 2026 F1 grid, Racing Bulls is the satellite team of Red Bull Racing.
Red Bull Racing acquired Racing Bulls in 2006, under the name Toro Rosso, as means to foster junior talent before promotion to their main team. Talents such as Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen started their historic careers at Red Bull’s satellite team.
However, many question if duel ownership of teams is fair in modern-day F1. Recently, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff commented on a “facilitated pass” during the 2026 Miami GP, where he suspected Liam Lawson allowed Max Verstappen overtake him easily.
In a print media session, Stella discussed his concerns about satellite teams in F1.
Stella on satellite teams — “Formula 1 should be a competition among independent constructors”
The McLaren Team Principal discussed the team’s letter to the FIA about the presence of satellite teams in F1. Stella expressed his concerns with satellite teams, particularly the potential ability for teams to share information.
“I would call this topic, ‘team independency.’ Like the letter, which uses examples, the letter is about the fact that we believe that Formula 1 should be a competition among independent constructors. And when you have co-ownership, it’s very difficult to say that you’re going to have a genuine and full independence of constructors.
“I think that’s, in essence, the principle that we would like to be enforced. Then we expand on the fact that these limitations that we currently see in the total independency of the teams manifest itself sometimes from a sporting point of view. It may manifest itself because, incidentally, there may be some conversations at the coffee machine between engineers that may be part of the same group, just incidentally.
“And then there may be other ways. Also, if you think about the utilisation of facilities and infrastructures that are shared — How does it really fit within the financial regulations? So there’s question marks.”
F1 teams in agreement?
Stella continued, expressing that others have shared a similar sentiment about satellite teams in F1. However, he understood difficulties of implementing complete independency in the sport, particularly as teams often share similar engine providers.
“I think everyone agrees on the principle, philosophically. For us, it’s more about expanding these question marks. And honestly, what I’ve seen in terms of reading what other teams have said, and even in the conversations in the F1 commission, I was really pleased that everyone agrees with the principle and the philosophy of independence.
“And it’s more about how do we achieve this in the real world, going through the complications and the complexity of some collaborations that are already in place. We know that this is not an easy solution. We know that this is complex. But what’s important for us is that this is kept in the agenda, and what happens to improve the current status.”
