The FIA launches a selection process for a new team

The current Formula 1 grid features ten teams following the recent disappearance of the Caterham F1 team at the end of last season, while the American team Haas is expected to make its debut in the top category of motorsport in 2016. The International Automobile Federation (FIA) is therefore seeking new candidates to increase the number of cars on the starting grids of the Grand Prix.

Interested candidates must formally respond to the FIA by June 30, after which they will be evaluated based on various criteria (non-exhaustive as specified by the FIA):

(a) the technical capacity and resources of the team

b) the team’s ability to raise and maintain sufficient funding to participate in the championship at a competitive level

c) the team’s experience and its members

d) the FIA’s assessment of the value that the candidate can bring to the championship as a whole.

The FIA also specifies in its statement that the long-term interests of the championship will determine which candidate will be selected.

Declared candidates must then submit their applications by September 1, 2015, for a decision by September 30, 2015, although this schedule may still change.

The FIA statement also explains that this process could result in no candidates being selected: « In the event that no candidate is deemed suitable by the FIA and the commercial rights holder, no additional team will be selected. »