A new Formula 1 team could be added to the grid as early as next season as the FIA opened a new selection process to get a potential twelfth team onto the entry list.
The sports governing body has been worried about entry levels dwindling, especially after the high-profile demise of the Caterham F1 Team at the end of the 2014 season, plus the troubles to save the Manor F1 Team ahead of this year, and have opened up the tender for a team to join the grid for either the 2016 or 2017 season.
The deadline for applications is June 30, with the full applications due by September 1, with the final decision coming on September 30, but the FIA have insisted that their decision would be based on the ‘overall long-term interests of the championship’, and the tender would not guarantee a new team coming on board.
The FIA have announced a series of guidelines that the selection will be based on, with them assessing:
- The technical ability and resources of the team
- The ability of the team to raise and maintain sufficient funding to allow participation in the championship at a competitive level
- The team’s experience and human resources
- The FIA’s assessment of the value that the candidate may bring to the championship as a whole
The Gene Haas’ American team will join the current ten teams in Formula 1 in 2016, with the potential team bringing the entry level back up to twenty-four cars for the first time since the HRT team disappeared at the end of 2012.
