Maffei: Unclear what value an 11th F1 team would add

On the other hand, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem is pushing on with his plans to induct a new team in the sport, the tender process he launched earlier in 2023 now reaching the stage of submittals' evaluation.

Ben Sulayem is taking a recent statement from Maffei as an approval from Formula 1 Management on having an 11th F1 team, but to be honest, the Liberty CEO has followed up on his statement by numerous "buts".

“I think in the right set of circumstances we would work to get the 11th team," Maffei said and that's what Ben Sulayem is building his optimism on.

But then Maffei added: “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. There are probably four or five garages and paddock areas that would be difficult to put in an 11th bay. 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, while speaking on the Walker Podcast.

This shows Formula 1 Management have many reservations when it comes to having an extra team, and while F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali insisted a new team needed to add value, his boss Maffei has now backed him.

Speaking to Wall Street analysts, quoted by Motorsport.com; Maffei said: "I think there's little daylight between Stefano's and my view, which is we have 10 great teams, and we're very excited about what they're doing.

"There was a process to add more teams, but the bar is very high. And it's unclear what value an 11th team would add. And there is a lot of uncertainty among the other teams about an 11th team.

"The FIA and we have had productive discussions about all this. Do we agree on everything, every moment? No, we discuss it, and we hopefully work things out," Maffei concluded.

Domenicali tried to be diplomatic about the situation and claimed they are always open for discussions with F1's governing body.

"The FIA started the process, as is their possibility. We are waiting for the final conclusion," he said. "But as always in this discussion, we'll find agreement together, because as [Maffei] said the value of the teams and value of the business today is very, very strong.

"That decision, that information, will come very, very soon, I would say within the month of September," the Italian revealed.

Domenicali shed light on the status of the upcoming Concorde agreement; he said: "I would say today, conversations are really going ahead, because the momentum of sport is really great.

"Of course, we're not in a rush. But I would say that all things are heading a positive conclusion for these discussions, both with the teams and the FIA," Domenicali, a former Ferrari team boss, concluded.