exclusive conversation In response to teams’ criticism of the grid expansion drive, Mohammed Ben Sulayem says he is certain that
Andretti will be approved by Formula 1 as the eleventh team; Regarding their relationship with Formula One, the President of the FIA
states, “There is no way it will be a rift.”
Ben Sulayem addressed concerns about the governing body’s plans to increase the grid to 11 teams directly in an exclusive interview with
Sky Sports News at the Qatar Grand Prix, given the fierce resistance from the sport’s current 10 teams.
Furthermore, he maintained that there was “no way” that the issue would cause a rupture between F1, who owns the economic rights to
the sport, and the FIA, which oversees it.
This week, the FIA authorized the participation of the Andretti team, sponsored by Cadillac, noting that out of the four applicants, they
were the only ones that satisfied the requirements outlined in the application procedure. Now that the topic has been turned over to F1 for
commercial considerations, it will likely be many months before they make a final decision.
F1 leaders have already discussed the obvious “value” addition to the competition that any new competitor would need to prove to them.
Ben Sulayem stated that the FIA “see their concern” but went on to explain why he thinks expansion was the right move for the sport after
several teams went on record over the Qatar weekend to explain their positions, citing financial concerns about the impact that splitting
the current prize money pot an additional way will have despite the presence of a $200 million anti-dilution fee payable by any extra squad.
When Craig Slater of Sky Sports questioned Ben Sulayem about his degree of confidence that Andretti would receive the go-ahead from
F1, he answered, “All the confidence.”
“Common sense dictates this. I would appreciate a valid explanation. To be honest, if you were to look at it, I could have approved it and
completed this process a long time ago. However, I took my time.
“Why? I lingered, listening to the others. discussing how to approach it with Stefano Domenicali of Formula One Management.Then we
disregarded all of the concerns. We sent the appropriate queries to Andretti and Cadillac, and when they responded, we were powerless to
reject them since the group met all of our requirements. It benefits the sport.
Regarding the governing body’s stance on grid expansion, the president of FIA stated: “It can only improve the sport.” From the FIA’s
perspective, what is our mission? What is the goal? Our goals are pretty clear: we want to expand motorsports, promote motorsports, and act fairly.
