F1 News
Krack explains F1 choice: 'All those teams are gone now too'
- Sam Godber
The FIA says it is in favour of new F1 teams on the grid and opened an application round for interested parties to enter the F1 championship as a team from 2026. Formula 1 and existing teams are less enthusiastic. Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack explains why.
Little known within F1 too about round of new F1 team signings
Just before the start of the F1 summer break, Mohammed ben Sulayem, the FIA president, announced that there will be clarity on the new entries for the 2026 Formula 1 grid within six weeks. On the paddock during the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, Krack told GPblog and others that F1 teams are also still hearing little about it from the FIA.
Krack: "We are in the same position as you [the media]. We know that there is this process going on. We also know that F1 is attractive and that is why there are a lot of applicants. I think what is also a pointer for F1, it is that the last teams that came in have all already disappeared."
Only new F1 teams for long term
The team boss explains why Formula 1 is careful about recruiting new F1 teams: "I think one of the main points is that they don't want teams to come and go. I think that is why there has to be a careful process. As I said, we are not really involved in it. We just have to take it as it comes."
Besides these criticisms Krack mentions from Formula 1, there is also a financial obstacle for teams to admit new interested parties to the sport. With the expansion of the grid, the distribution of prize money becomes different. As long as new teams do not make a hefty contribution, existing teams will lose money when a new team joins. The FIA currently uses an entry fee of $200 million, but the existing teams would like to make it 500 million.