Williams and McLaren soon to be an exception on the F1 grid? This is what FOM wants!

Teams like Williams, McLaren and Haas are slowly becoming a dying breed in the Formula 1 paddock. These are teams owned by private individuals or companies. Unlike Mercedes, Ferrari, Alpine, and even Red Bull Racing with their own RBPT and soon Audi. If it is up to Formula One Management - so reports The Race after talking to Haas boss Guenther Steiner - F1 wants to welcome only factory teams as newcomers to the class in the future.

Steiner appears to be the most outspoken team boss regarding Andretti-Cadillac's entry into Formula 1. While Mario Andretti expressed in an exclusive interview with GPblog that all conditions have been met, the Italian does not see an entry for the motorsport family. Speaking at length to the media, Steiner - in his own words - expressed the opinion of most other team bosses: although the F1 teams have no direct say in decision-making, almost all of them are against Andretti- Cadillac's entry.

Steiner is not in favour of Andretti

"Why would we dilute what we have got just to get somebody else, a team, when Formula 1 is booming - because who knows where we are in three or four years?," Steiner said. He cited that not so long ago, several teams were struggling to keep their heads above water financially. Now that a period has arrived when Formula 1 teams are doing well, he does not want newcomers to take advantage of what the old guard has built up. “It’s easy to say, ‘it [Andretti] doesn’t do anything for F1’. I’ve always said, if it can be demonstrated that nothing is going negative for anybody, let’s talk about it - but I haven’t seen anything.”

According to Steiner, the teams and Formula One Management have agreed that new teams will only be admitted if they are genuine factory teams. From Steiner's mouth, that seems a remarkable position precisely because Haas is not a factory team. In any other case, an existing team would have to be bought out. It is an open secret that Michael Andretti initially wanted to buy Sauber (soon to become Audi), but the deal ultimately fell through.