F1 chief Sulayem risks upsetting Red Bull and Mercedes with major team update

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem risks Red Bull and Mercedes ‘ wrath as he pushes to have an 11th and 12th team on the grid in 2025. The FIA officially launched an application process for new teams to join Formula 1 earlier this year – a decision that hasn’t gone down with many of the 10 constructors including two of the big three. Sulayem has aspirations of adding American and Chinese teams to the line-up as the sport aims to break into new markets. Speaking to  Motorsport Total , Sulayem said: ‘My dream is a full United States of America team from an OEM and I would like to also see an OEM from China. ‘Everybody is allowed to have a dream. But it is also achievable. You have 1.4 billion people in China, and over 50% of your vehicles on the road, electric vehicles, are Chinese. That’s facts. It is a big market. ‘The Chinese are serious when it comes to EV and hybrid. And I tell you something: the PU last year was the right thing to do. If we didn’t do it, do you really think Audi would have come and joined? That happened only after the PU was approved and all the teams signed it. Mohammed Ben Sulayem wants to add a US and Chinese team to the grid (Image: GETTY) ‘We did it for the good of the sport. And it opened the door. Honda came, Ford joined, Porsche are deciding. I would say it is still warm with Porsche and Formula 1. All that happened for a good reason.” However, Mercedes and Red Bull chiefs Toto Wolff and Christian Horner have previously pushed against the idea. The latter believes it would be logistically ‘very difficult’ to house potential new teams within the paddock given the championship’s growth. Neither Toto Wolff nor Christian Horner are keen on adding more teams to the F1 grid (Image: GETTY) ‘I think the issues remain the same as 12 months ago: fiscally what is the incentive for an existing team or franchise to accept an 11th entrant?’ Horner told the Race . ‘Ultimately who pays if it dilutes the income of the 10? It’s like turkeys voting for Christmas, why would they do that? ‘Are Liberty [Media, F1’s owner] prepared to pay and fund an 11th team, are the FIA prepared to reduce their fees to help accommodate it? So there’s all the financial aspects. But beyond that with the way the sport has developed if you look at the pitlane for example here or somewhere like Monaco or Zandvoort or some of the circuits we’re now racing at, where would we be able to accommodate an 11th team? ‘I think that in itself, operationally where do we put the motorhomes, where do we put the support [paddocks]? Where do the trucks go? I just think it would be an incredibly difficult thing to be accommodated with the way the sport has evolved.’ Meanwhile, Wolff believes it would be a “safety concern”. “When you look at qualifying sessions, I mean already now we’re looking like we’re on a go-kart track, we’re tripping over each other,” he said. “There is a safety concern: We haven’t got the logistics, where to put an 11th team. Here in Silverstone, we can accommodate the Hollywood people but on other circuits, we can’t.”