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Jean Todt has revealed that a number of new teams have expressed interest in joining Formula 1 in the near future, with the current F1 grid only standing at ten teams with 20 drivers in total following the collapse of Manor earlier this year.
When speaking to the press at the FIA Sport Conference in Geneva earlier this week, Todt confirmed that a number of teams have expressed their interest in joining the current field of teams, stating that he would like two more teams to join the sport which would expand the current field to 24 drivers - a number that F1 has not seen since 2012.
"When we feel it is time, we will be able to make a tender. At the moment we have ten teams and the idea is to have up to 12 teams," said Todt. "So we have an opportunity, if we have one or two strong newcomers it could be possible. There are always rumours, but we have had some interest from some teams.
"First we need to check ourselves the request [for a new team]," Todt told the press. "It's going through a kind of audit to see who are the potential buyers. If it's a big manufacturer, it's easy, if it's a privateer, you need to be more careful. And then, once you are sure that there is a real interest, and once you're sure that people are able, like it was the case with Haas, for example, then we make tender.
Despite admitting that the interest was there, Todt revealed that the current grid is not set to expand in 2018 as "It would be foolish to think that a new team would be ready in eight months". If this did occur, the story may be similar to that of the US F1 Team - a team that failed to take to the grid in 2010 that was run by F1 journalist Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson, the former technical director of Stewart Haas Racing.
Chris Soulsby
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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Would be nice to have 22-26 cars in the field