Adding an 11th team? 'Welcome, provided this condition is met'

Mohammed ben Sulayem already seems in favour. In principle, the FIA president sees no obstacles to adding an eleventh team (and perhaps even a twelfth) to the Formula 1 grid. The current teams in Formula 1 are mostly sceptical, as became clear again at Silverstone.

Toto Wolff, Mercedes' team boss, for example, is one such person who is not an outspoken advocate of expansion. "I'm not sure sports league in the world, whether it's a national football championship or the Champions League, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, where such situation is possible. Whereas I'm just setting up a team and I'm joining, thank you very much for making me part of the prize fund. You have to qualify, you have to go through the ranks, you have to showcase the commitment to the championship that we've done over the many years. But to repeat what I said and Fred, if it's a creative, then we must look at it."

Wolff continued: "So far what we haven't seen hasn't convinced the teams. But we haven't seen the applications and submissions that were made to the FIA and to Stefano [Domenicali] and they will judge whether that is positive for Formula One or not. But in any case, from a team's owner's side, there is no league which just increases the entries, because that just dilutes the whole league."

James Vowles, Williams team boss, further cites that with a new team, it negatively affects the revenue stream of most other teams. "We need to make sure we keep growing the pot as a result of things and very much welcome someone that grows the pot further, as simple as that. We all get a bigger pie and we get a bigger slice of the pie, and that makes somewhat sense. There's the option and opportunity to clearly buy one of the existing entities that take point that already exists on paper. But our perspective is very much welcoming. We just need to make sure that the pot is widened sufficiently that it makes sense."