F1: Green light for 11th team within ‘weeks’ – FIA boss (Update)

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has again spoken on potential new teams competing for a spot in the 2025 season,

“It is a big investment for the teams, which is why it is important that we make a good choice. We will know more in six weeks.

“I am confident that the FOM supports our choice. They know what’s best.”

Currently, it is unknown just how many applicants have submitted their bid with only the likes of Andretti, Hitech, Formula Equal and LKY SUNZ having gone public.

“Will an additional team be added or will an existing team be taken over? That’s not up to me to decide that. What we need to do is look at the financial and technical stability of the interested teams.”

“We delayed any announcement because some of the teams requested some time, and you don’t want to exclude them,” added Ben Sulayem told Motorsport-Total.com

“You have to be flexible. We are not yet over with it because we have to be very careful with making a decision.

“It’s a big process, and I don’t like to be rushed because the decision has to be very, very clear.

“[A decision is] not far away. I think four to six weeks. We need to do it right. We are talking about big investment from people.

“We just have to wait now for the next six weeks to see what is the plan. I have no doubt that FOM will do the right decision. They know what’s better.”

“We have a contract and our contract says we have up to 12 teams. So we are not breaking the rules. We are, on the contrary, fulfilling the rules,” the Emirati said.

“The FIA as a regulator has to look at all the requests, and we did. The expression of interest was the right thing to do. I know some of the teams are not happy because I can see the financial impact on them.

“Is it adding a team or do they have to buy an existing team? That’s not for me to impose on big teams. But what we have to do is the process, and the due diligence of the financial side and the technical side.”

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has always insisted that an 11th entrant would have to add value to the sport, an opinion echoed by current team principals across the paddock, and also backed by Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei.

“I think there’s little daylight between Stefano’s and my view, which is we have 10 great teams, and we’re very excited about what they’re doing,” said Maffei in a call with Wall Street analysts after this week’s Liberty Media 2nd quarter earning report.

“There was a process to add more teams, but the bar is very high. And it’s unclear what value an 11th team would add. And there is a lot of uncertainty among the other teams about an 11th team.

“The FIA and we have had productive discussions about all this. Do we agree on everything, every moment? No, we discuss it, and we hopefully work things out.”

“The FIA started the process, as is their possibility,” added Stefano Domenicali. “We are waiting for the final conclusion by the FIA.

“But as always in this discussion, we’ll find agreement together because as [Maffei] said the value of the teams and value of the business today is very, very strong.

“That decision that information, will come very, very soon, I would say within the month of September.”

Domenicali also noted that talks about the next Concorde Agreement, which will start in 2026, are already underway.

“I would say today, conversations are really going ahead because the momentum of sport is really great,” he said.

“Of course, we’re not in a rush. But I would say that all things are heading to a positive conclusion for these discussions, both with the teams and the FIA.”

Related Article: In reality, Andretti has them by the balls, they only don’t know it yet.

As well as fulfilling the contract, Ben Sulayem has also raised his concern over potential legal challenges should the FIA outright deny any applicant.

Current regulations state that the process is open for new teams to join provided they pay an anti-dilution fee of $200 million that will be paid to other teams.

“What if one of the applying teams take us to court? They can, if we say no to them,” said Sulayem.

“It’s not about me. I am only implementing the rules.”

(GMM) It will still take “4 to 6 weeks” for clarity to emerge over whether F1 will be getting new teams, according to FIA boss Ben Sulayem.

After several groups responded to the official FIA tender, it was reported recently that two prospective new teams – Andretti-Cadillac and Hitech – may already have been green-lighted by the governing FIA.

But with Liberty Media and most of the existing F1 teams opposed, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem explains that there are still hurdles to jump.

“This is obviously a political and financial issue, but it is clear to me that the FIA must respect the process. The EU also regulates us, so we can’t manipulate anything,” he told formula.hu.

“If a team is interested and our rules say you can have that many teams, how can we say no?”

Ben Sulayem says he understands the existing teams’ opposition on financial grounds, but it is his duty to “do the right thing for the sport”.

“We can’t tell a big team that wants to come to F1 to go and buy a team or you can’t come in. I think that’s wrong,” he added.

It is clear that Ben Sulayem’s personal favorite for an eleventh team entry is Michael Andretti’s outfit, with the backing of Cadillac and General Motors.

“These are serious people, and we don’t want to disqualify anyone without thoroughly reviewing the submitted applications,” he said. “It’s about big names and big money.

“Of course we don’t want just anybody, but ‘A teams’ or a car manufacturer. I prefer the manufacturers because that would be good for the sport.

“We have taken our time, the FIA team worked very hard, we had meetings with the teams where we reviewed their applications, and I think the final decision will be made within four to six weeks,” Ben Sulayem concluded.

Financial concerns aside, figures like Toto Wolff (Mercedes) have argued that more than 20 cars on the grid is actually a safety issue, as “we are already tripping over ourselves like on a go-kart track”.

“I don’t understand that,” the FIA president hit back. “Safety is the most important thing for the FIA and our safety people say that 11 or 12 teams is also safe.

“We’ll wait until the evaluation of the teams is finished, and then we’ll see, but I have said it before, and I say it now – how could we turn down General Motors? I don’t understand the negativity.

“I heard that Liberty Media would also like an 11th team – this was said by CEO Greg Maffei,” Ben Sulayem added. “It seems that we are both looking at the interests of the sport and its sustainability because this way there will be more business for the promoter as well.

“Hopefully next month we can make a statement.”