Andrea Stella trusts FIA regulation regarding how close F1 teams can be in sharing things amid discussions of mandatory gardening leave for team members.
The ties between Red Bull and Visa Cash App RB have always come under scrutiny for various reasons. McLaren’s Zak Brown has never shied away from showing his displeasure. The topic regained limelight after the recent switch of Laurent Mekies from Racing Bulls to Red Bull.
After Christian Horner was sacked from his post, Red Bull made a quick change to bring Mekies into the fold from the sister F1 team. Usually, there is gardening leave period put on by various rivals, but since the Frenchman belong to the ‘same family’, it was easier to bypass the ruling.
Naturally, it was a move which had its naysayers. The topic was raised in the recent F1 Commission meet, as firmed by McLaren team boss Stella and Sauber’s Jonathan Wheatley. The discussion is to have a mandatory gardening leave from F1 2026 onward, which will not allow a move likes Mekies.
Stella has faith on the FIA system to come through as they have done previously. “This is an interesting topic and quite complex,” he said to media. “We have to be wary that we don’t approach it in too simplistic a way. Certainly, McLaren in the past have raised the question about team independence. It’s a question that should be discussed as part of putting the sport in a very solid, fair position so that any team that operates in a fully independent way is protected against the benefits that can be exploited in being dependent as teams from one another.
“At the moment, we at McLaren trust that the regulations in place and the way they are enforced are already a valid way of mitigating any potential risk associated with connections between teams, like changing from one team to the other from one day to the next. But definitely, we think this is a topic that can be part of constructive conversations in the future to see if there’s a way of approaching the matter of team independence in an evolved way compared to where we are at the moment.”
Wheately equally felt that the topic is an important one, even though he previously worked at Red Bull. “I think it’s hugely important that there’s no way that any of our competitors can gain an advantage over another competitor with the movement of staff,” he said to media. “So it’s not a new subject. I’m sure you’re aware it’s been under discussion for some time.
“And the FIA are treating it seriously. And all of us as competitors, it’s in our best interest to make sure that there’s some robust regulations based around that so that people can’t take advantage,” summed up Wheatley, as Visa Cash App RB’s current boss Alan Permanse chose not to add anything on the topic, when asked. He simply noted: “No, nothing to add.”
Mercedes’ Toto Wolff, meanwhile, excluded himself by citing the labour laws in place and that he was not well versed with the topic, since he missed the last F1 Commission meet. “There is labour laws in United Kingdom and there is labour laws in Switzerland that is being looked at,” he said. “So, I don’t know who is talking about it [in F1 Commission]. I wasn’t on the table, I should have heard.”
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