Photo copyright John Hand
Ok, maybe not. But I've seen various articles, videos, etc reporting that there are "no rules" in F1 against a multi-team owner using Team A to benefit Team B. That's incorrect. However, the question is not whether there are any rules on this (there are), it's whether anyone would ever enforce them (they won't).
🥇 What’s the background?
In 2019 F1 re-introduced a championship point for the fastest lap to any driver who finished in the top 10. Generally, this has led to teams with a car inside the top 10 pitting a driver that has a sufficient gap to the car behind on the last few laps, giving that driver one or two laps to go quickest on new tyres and low fuel, and nab the point.
Important for this topic is that Red Bull GmbH own both Red Bull Racing (RBR) and Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team (VCARB). This is F1’s only example of multi-team ownership (as close as F1 gets to a City Football Group).
🤔 What happened?
With a lap to go in Singapore, Daniel Ricciardo of VCARB, who was running last of the classified drivers remaining, set the fastest lap after his team put him on new tyres. Conspiracy theorists unite as this “stole” the fastest lap point mentioned above from RBR’s closest championship rival: Lando Norris of McLaren.
🤷 Why is this unusual?
It’s almost unheard of for a team to intentionally (ie not accidentally enforced due to an incident) try for fastest lap outside of the top ten because there’s zero benefit except for stat-padding. RBR stated that they had nothing to do with this (but thanked VCARB). And VCARB stated that they felt bad for Ricciardo because he was last. Ricciardo himself said he expects a massive bonus if RBR now win a championship (love the sense of humour but not necessarily what a lawyer would’ve told him to say...).
🥲 How could this get RBR / VCARB into trouble?
There are no rules in F1 against multi-team ownership (obviously). However, previously teams including McLaren have complained about the potential sporting implications of having multi-team owners (https://tinyurl.com/4dhfscf6).
However, if (big if), you could be shown to have effectively manipulated the result by having teams you jointly own help each other, then you could be in trouble:
F1 Technical Regulations A17 – explicitly restricts transfer of IP (widely defined) between Competitors (ie would stop RBR from asking VCARB to help)
International Sporting Code A12 – slightly coincidentally used by the FIA against Verstappen earlier in the weekend, bans behaviours contrary to the ethics of the sport (including bribery, etc)
Concorde – FIA / FOM may have a breach of contract claim vs the team
National courts – if Norris lost the championship by 1 point, he could copy Felipe Massa (https://tinyurl.com/2p52t44w) and try to claim damages vs FOM / FIA for lost exposure, bonuses, etc by effectively arguing the rules have not been properly enforced
🧑⚖️ Will they actually get into trouble?
No chance. It’ll be almost impossible to prove. McLaren and RBR have posted a cuddly picture so everyone's friends; nothing to see here. Whether there was anything untoward or not (I think probably not), then this is not a "loophole" as I've seen written, it's just a risk-call.
🤯 Could other teams copy this, eg between Power Unit customers?
Almost impossible without an ownership connection. The teams are too competitive. Some drivers are managed by other teams, eg Ocon is managed by Mercedes. In that example, it’s possible for a driver to unilaterally make decisions benefitting their ultimate manager but exceptionally unlikely as drivers need to maximise their own results before worrying about wider influence.
✅ Conclusion
Ricciardo picked up a pointless fastest lap
If RBR or VCARB orchestrated this to influence the championship, there are potential contractual and regulatory issues
Regardless, exceptionally unlikely anything will happen beyond revisiting the (exciting) topic of multi-team ownership
Please reach out if you want to chat about multi-team ownership, applicability of motorsports regulations or driver stuff.