Ben Sulayem dreams of American and Chinese Works F1 teams

The Emirati has been pushing for an 11th F1 team, and has directed the FIA to start a tender for interested parties to apply for an F1 slot earlier this year, a process that is now in the evaluation phase.

The FIA President has been a strong supporter of Andretti-Cadillac's bid to enter F1, while teams have been opposing the move while Formula 1 Management have not been keen as well.

Speaking to Motorsport Total, Ben Sulayem revealed his aspirations in terms of new F1 teams; he said: "My dream is a full United States of America team from an OEM and I would like to also see an OEM from China.

"Everybody is allowed to have a dream. But it is also achievable. You have 1.4 billion people in China, and over 50% of your vehicles on the road, electric vehicles, are Chinese. That's facts. It is a big market," he explained.

Ben Sulayem pointed out that the 2026 power unit regulations, where power units have a 50-50 ratio between internal combustion power and electric power, were the correct move for F1.

He said: "The Chinese are serious when it comes to EV and hybrid. And I tell you something: the PU last year was the right thing to do.

"If we didn't do it, do you really think Audi would have come and joined? That happened only after the PU was approved and all the teams signed it.

"We did it for the good of the sport. And it opened the door. Honda came, Ford joined, Porsche are deciding. I would say it is still warm with Porsche and Formula 1. All that happened for a good reason," he maintained.

Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei has recently said on the Walker Webcast: "I think in the right set of circumstances we would work to get the 11th team."

And Ben Sulayem believes that means Liberty are aligned with his view regarding an additional F1 team; he commented: "I was happy to see the declaration from Liberty Media that they actually give the blessing for another team.

"Our responsibility is to do all the due diligence, do all of the required investigations," he insisted.

But Maffei highlighted several points which he believed cause an issue in the process of accepting an additional team; he continued: "Somebody who could bring a lot of value to the sport, a lot of value to the fans, because of their position in technology, their position as an OEM, their position in marketing – some combination of all that – you could imagine coming to some kind of an agreement.

"But it’s not without controversy, certainly among the 10 teams," the Liberty big boss warned.

"There are probably four or five garages and paddock areas that would be difficult to put in an 11th bay," he added. "Maybe that’s solvable with money and time, but it’s not something that you snap your fingers and solve.

"The other issue is that the 10 teams are splitting the profits that go to the teams, and dividing it 11 ways is not something they’re particularly enthused about," Maffei admitted.

With the FIA announcing their decision on the new potential team applications is now close, it remains to be seen how Formula 1 Management and the existing ten F1 teams react to the prospect of having an 11th team becoming closer to realization.