During the Miami Grand Prix weekend, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner revived an old when he told journos “it’s very difficult” to accommodate a new team in Formula 1.
Horner stirring up an old controversy which has most of the current F1 teams in the paddock (at least eight of the ten, only McLaren and Renault in support apparently) wanting to keep newcomers out. The deadline for new applications was extended to May 15 by the FIA, providing wannabe new F1 teams an opportunity to push for an entry into the sport for 2025 at the earliest.
Horner told reporters at the Miami Grand Prix: “It may be a little harder to accommodate new teams within the paddock, and the sport in general. I think the issues remain the same as 12 months ago: fiscally what is the incentive for an existing team or franchise to accept an 11th entrant?
“Ultimately who pays if it dilutes the income of the 10? It’s like turkeys voting for Christmas, why would they do that? Are Liberty prepared to pay and fund an 11th team, are the FIA prepared to reduce their fees to help accommodate it?
“So there’s all the financial aspects. But beyond that with the way the sport has developed if you look at the pitlane for example here or somewhere like Monaco or Zandvoort or some of the circuits we’re now racing at, where would we be able to accommodate an 11th team?”
Horner: With more teams where do the extra support trucks go? And at Monaco? Or Zandvoort?
The Red Bull boss continued: “I think that in itself, operationally where do we put the motorhomes, where do we put the support? Where do the trucks go? I just think it would be an incredibly difficult thing to be accommodated with the way the sport has evolved.”
Does Horner have a point? From a neutral perspective, it could be easy to see his point here, why would the existing teams want to risk everything they have built to put a new team forward? And who is paying for the accommodation of the new entrants? Because the teams certainly don’t want to. The analogy that Horner used “it’s like turkeys voting for Christmas” is fitting to the saga.
Horner is essentially saying that teams are voting to end themselves financially by allowing new teams to join the sport in the coming years. Regardless, the idea of new teams joining F1 and entering the championship battle is exciting to many fans, however, the teams seem to be at odds with it.
The FIA have the ultimate say here. Let’s see what they will contrive from a slew of applicants reportedly lining up to step into F1, Andretti Global is the highest-profile applicant, amid several consortiums in Europe and Asia expressing interest or set to submit their projects.
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