FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has revealed his dream is to see American and Chinese works teams competing on the Formula 1 grid in the future.
The governing body is continuing its work to evaluate prospective entrants with news expected in the next “four to six weeks” on successful candidates.
Several teams have publicly already declared their interest in joining the F1 grid including Andretti-Cadillac, Hietch GP, LKY SUNZ, Formula Equal, and Rodin Carlin.
Ben Sulayem revealed that he would like to see manufacturers join from two of the worlds largest economies when speaking to Motorsport Total: “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.”
Existing Team Principal’s have already hit out against focusing on nationalities, including Frederic Vasseur and Toto Wolff.
The latter claims new teams should showcase a “accretive” element, after Ben Sulayem urged for “common sense” to prevail over whether to let Andretti-Cadillac become an 11th F1 team.
Ben Sulayem: Chinese are serious when it comes to EV
The 2026 power unit regulations, which will see a 50/50 power split between the Internal Combustion Engine and electrification, could be an attractive element for manufacturers in these countries.
“The Chinese are serious when it comes to EV and hybrid,” said the FIA President.
“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.
“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.”
Source : Racing News 365
