{"id":30153,"date":"2025-02-09T17:31:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-09T22:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=30153"},"modified":"2025-02-10T03:55:47","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T08:55:47","slug":"fia-president-ben-sulayem-insists-12th-f1-team-is-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/09\/fia-president-ben-sulayem-insists-12th-f1-team-is-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"FIA President Ben Sulayem insists 12th F1 team is possible"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It is now common knowledge that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/05\/f1-cadillacs-leading-options-for-their-2026-lineup\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Cadillac<\/a> will become the newest entrant on the F1 grid in 2026. The American team will be powered by Ferrari engines in their debut season, before General Motors bring in their own power units.<\/p>\n<p>However, for all positives surrounding Cadillac&#8217;s bid (a project initially kick-started by Andretti), there was no certainty they would be allowed into F1.<\/p>\n<p>Liberty Media and the FIA were at odds over another team joining the grid. Looking to the future, FIA President Ben Sulayem says he is no afraid of another clash.<\/p>\n<h2>A 12th team in F1? Sulayem rules nothing out<\/h2>\n<p>For a long time, there were several key stakeholders that were against an 11th team joining the paddock.<\/p>\n<p>From F1&#8217;s owners Liberty Media (including Greg Maffei, who was CEO until the end of 2024), to most team principals, the American project enjoyed little support from the grid.<\/p>\n<p>As talks with Liberty Media reached a standstill, Mario Andretti took the aggressive action to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/05\/02\/andretti-receive-support-from-us-congress-in-f1-entry-bid\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">raise this issue with US congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst this was happening, Sulayem was typically supportive of another team joining the grid. This put himself directly at odds with Liberty Media.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SoyMotor\/status\/1888528269454233909?t=pfkNBAz6gUtjgNYsTQ7fCA&amp;s=19\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Speaking at a recent event<\/a>, the FIA President explained that a 12th team entering F1 is well within the regulations:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;We are very aware that there was a big attack on me last year, because of the 11th team.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Do we have it now? We have an 11th team.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Was it needed, to go through all that mess to have this? I think no.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;There was clear regulations we have &#8211; we are allowed to have 12 [teams]. Are we going to have 12?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;If the right team comes, the FIA will open the expression of interest.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;We are not afraid of anyone.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"AduIsozyRSxTJCM5UiVmFQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2188086734\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'AduIsozyRSxTJCM5UiVmFQ',sig:'uzXLvyhS9VQDO4G7DYlC5VDKnHyrA9t5e2-vR35W9x8=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2188086734',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>More uncertainties to address<\/h4>\n<p>For the time being, the issue of a 12th team in Formula 1 is unlikely to be a major issue.<\/p>\n<p>Although whispers of certain manufacturers taking a long-term interest in the sport have circulated, nothing suggests the arrival of another team is imminent.<\/p>\n<p>With that said, the FIA still have several key issues to address.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/08\/fia-considering-shut-down-of-team-radio-in-f1-broadcasts\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">reported previously by LWOS<\/a>, the issue of driver profanity on team radio is set to become a talking point as the season begins.<\/p>\n<p>With the Federation clamping down on overall driver conduct, the next few months will prove a huge test for the FIA and President Ben Sulayem.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the history of Formula 1, stand-offs between the drivers and the FIA are not necessarily uncommon.<\/p>\n<p>From Ayrton Senna to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/05\/alonso-i-would-not-receive-the-same-benefit-as-george\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Fernando Alonso<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/11\/03\/max-verstappen-furious-with-bullsht-red-flag-timing\/\" target=\"_self\">Max Verstappen<\/a>, the political aspect of the sport often has an impact on the on-track action.<\/p>\n<p>After another year where stewarding decisions were a subject of significant scrutiny, the FIA &#8211; as ever &#8211; will be under pressure to provide more clarity on their decision-making.<\/p>\n<p>Last year&#8217;s emerging rivalry between Verstappen and Norris saw a sharp increase in the consequences of the FIA&#8217;s penalty decisions.<\/p>\n<p>As several teams work towards contending for this year&#8217;s Championship, the stakes and scrutiny across all aspects of F1 will remain extremely high.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is now common knowledge that Cadillac will become the newest entrant on the F1 grid in 2026. The American team will be powered by Ferrari engines in their debut season, before General Motors bring in their own power units. However, for all positives surrounding Cadillac&#8217;s bid (a project initially kick-started by Andretti), there was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":16446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2478,2452,465,637],"class_list":["post-30153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-ben-sulayem","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-f1-news","tag-fia"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30153"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30154,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30153\/revisions\/30154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}