F1 “B-teams” are affecting McLaren and Williams - Brundle

Former driver Martin Brundle has expressed his concern that Formula 1’s “B-teams” are putting McLaren and Williams in grey area between those and manufacturer teams.

Both McLaren and Williams have had a lot of success in the past, claiming 17 constructors and 296 wins between them. But they are struggling nowadays due to manufacturer teams, such as Ferrari, encouraging and helping teams below them by supplying more parts.

"The problem with Williams and to an extent McLaren is they are outside where you need to be these days in Formula 1,” Brundle said at the Autosport International Show.

"You either need to be a manufacturer team or a Haas and Toro Rosso-style B-team with the hand-me-downs.”

"That leaves a void in the middle where Williams and McLaren find themselves because they're not works teams and they're certainly not B-teams.”

Neither McLlaren or Williams have won a race since 2012, where McLaren last won in Brazil at the end of the season, and Williams in Spain a few races in.

"But it's tough for them when they're fighting a team like Haas, that has a completely different business model, and they're getting a lot of stuff from Ferrari and Dallara."

Haas had been criticised during 2018 for its close relationship with Ferrari and Brundle said that the way to benefit independent teams more would be to force the teams like Haas that have that relationship out of F1.

"I don't want to see the back of Haas, or teams like that.”

"We've only got 20 cars on the grid. You've got to look after your maverick billionaires, you've got to look after your manufacturers as well.”

"There's got to be something for everybody.”