RB CEO Peter Bayer has responded to the critiques made toward the team after the collaboration with Red Bull strengthened ahead of the 2024 season.
Toward the end of last year, Red Bull and RB F1 Team (formerly AlphaTauri) started an even stronger partnership. This created some chaos in the paddock, as many saw this new collaboration as something “dangerous” that could make RB even stronger and annoy the top teams.
Some critiques arrived from McLaren, for example, with Zak Brown complaining about the fairness of the aforementioned partnership.
Team CEO Bayer decided to answer these critiques, saying that the rival outfits are now concerned because they fear how the pecking order might change.
“One of the first things you learn in Formula 1 is that the easiest way to become unpopular is to be successful,” he told RacingNews365.
“As long as you’re last, people will not even realize you’re there. As soon as you start knocking on the door, they will throw everything at you.
“I’m coming from the FIA [where he held the role of Executive Director of Formula 1] and I know how much scrutiny there is on all of the teams. Certainly, there is even more scrutiny when it comes to the teams working closer together. The rules are very clear.
“You might have seen the statement of the FIA when they looked at our car, [they said] ‘this is a different concept’. There is nothing that concerns us.”