It gets busy on the grid: Panthera also wants to be in F1
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Things are getting busy on the Formula 1 grid. At least, one party after another is now signing up to join the world's premier motorsport class. While Andretti and Cadillac already indicated several times that they want to join and billionaire Calvin Lo is also looking into building a team, now an old acquaintance is also announcing its interest.
Back in 2019, Panthera Team Asia F1 announced it would like to enter Formula 1. Nothing more than that happened after that. With the FIA's announcement that the door is open for new teams, Panthera wants to make the dream a reality now. By 2026, the team should be competing in Grands Prix, team boss and co-founder Benjamin Durand told PlanetF1.com.
East
Like Lo, Panthera is targeting the Asian market. “They are all looking west, nobody’s looking east,” Durand said. “Now Formula 1 is focusing a lot on the US which is normal because it’s growing but once that market is there, Asia and Africa are the next big market for F1, especially now that Zhou [Guanyu] is in the Championship.”
Panthera's plans are still in the early stages. For instance, Durand does not yet know what the requirements for new teams are going to be from the FIA. He expects to have more clarity on that by the end of the month.