04 January 2023 , 11:15
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FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has revealed Formula One could expand to more than ten teams in a major shake-up.
The FIA are the sport's governing body and Ben Sulayem confirmed on Twitter that they are exploring the prospect of expanding the grid. The 2023 F1 season was set to have a record 24 races before the Chinese Grand Prix was axed and more changes to the sport could be coming.
"I have asked my @FIA team to look at launching an Expressions of Interest process for prospective new teams for the FIA @F1 World Championship," Ben Sulayem wrote on Twitter.
A new team has not entered F1 since 2016 when Haas debuted and the grid was reduced to ten teams in 2017 when Manor Racing dropped out following the collapse of parent company Just Racing Services.
Despite the FIA's plans to explore adding new teams, F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali insisted back in September they did not need to expand the grid. "As always, you need to be balanced," he told Sky Sports.
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"You need to see all the things that are around the table. Having more drivers... at the end of the day there is always a limit at which you can go.
"Adding one or two, you may open up some driving seats. But we need to also have the right dimension in what is successful for the sport.
"I think in that respect there is the evaluation of the sustainability of the team, the evaluation of not being too crowded with that. So I would say in terms of priority, it is not really a need for Formula 1 today.”
"Now Formula 1 is extremely competitive but you need to be very strong in terms of financials, in terms of competence, and today this is one of the things that is crucial, to make sure the stability of the system will be for a long time."