McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown sent a letter to FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem this week calling for explicit regulatory guardrails against common ownership structures across multiple Formula 1 teams. The timing is instructive: Audi's factory entry arrives in 2026, private equity groups are sizing minority stakes in at least three teams, and the franchise value of a grid slot now exceeds $1 billion on secondary conversations.
Brown's letter does not name specific transactions but the structural concern is clear. Under current regulations, a single investment vehicle could theoretically hold stakes across multiple constructor entries provided voting control remains separate. The Concorde Agreement bars outright dual ownership but leaves room for shared limited partners, passive stakes, and tiered holding structures common in private equity. Brown wants that gap closed.
The competitive integrity argument is straightforward. If two teams share a balance sheet, even at a minority level, information asymmetry becomes mechanical. Sponsor negotiations, driver contract timing, technical development priorities—these decisions carry valuation consequences that flow back to common investors. The FIA's existing conflict-of-interest provisions address personnel and IP transfers but not capital-table entanglements.
What makes this matter now is deal flow. Liberty Media sold a $700 million minority stake in Formula 1 to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund last year. CVC Capital Partners, which exited its F1 majority position in 2016, has been circling individual team opportunities. Alpine is actively marketing and Sauber's transition to Audi factory backing leaves prior investors looking for exit liquidity. Williams fielded at least two serious purchase inquiries in Q1 2026 alone. If a single fund writes checks into multiple teams, Brown's scenario moves from theoretical to structural.
The precedent he's likely thinking about is football. Manchester City and Girona share ownership through the City Football Group, which created both regulatory headaches and a Court of Arbitration for Sport case when both clubs qualified for UEFA Champions League. Formula 1's grid is finite—ten teams, twenty seats—which makes any ownership overlap materially more sensitive than a league with promotion and relegation.
Brown's letter also arrives as teams negotiate the next Concorde Agreement, which governs revenue distribution and governance through 2030. Current talks include discussions around franchise value protection, anti-dilution mechanisms for existing teams, and whether $200 million anti-competitive payments for new entrants are sufficient. Ownership restrictions would likely fold into that larger package.
One detail worth watching: Brown did not send this letter privately. Multiple paddock sources confirmed its existence within 48 hours, which suggests he wanted the position on record before summer's governance meetings. That's not aggressive; it's preventive. If a fund already has term sheets out to two teams, Brown's public position makes any FIA approval politically harder.
The FIA has three paths. It can tighten ownership language in sporting regulations before the 2027 season, which requires World Motor Sport Council approval but no team sign-off. It can push the issue into Concorde renegotiations, which gives teams leverage but delays resolution until 2028. Or it can do nothing and let market forces answer the question, which is how most professional sports handled private equity until structures became too entangled to unwind cleanly.
Brown's letter does not specify whether he wants an outright ban on any common investor across teams or a materiality threshold—say, no more than 5% passive stakes. That distinction matters. A blanket prohibition would effectively freeze out diversified sports funds and sovereign wealth vehicles that view F1 as a portfolio play. A threshold would permit financial participation while capping influence.
What to watch: FIA's response timeline, which will signal whether this becomes a 2026 regulatory amendment or gets pushed to Concorde talks. Also watch which other team principals echo Brown's position publicly; so far, silence from Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari suggests they may prefer flexibility. Alpine's sale process is the forcing function. If a buyer emerges with existing F1 exposure, Brown's letter becomes a veto card.
The governance meeting in Monaco is June 8-9, 2026. If Brown's letter isn't on the formal agenda, it will be in the hallway.
The takeaway
Brown's FIA letter targets ownership loopholes as private equity circles teams; timing suggests he's trying to close the door before deal flow forces the issue.
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