F1 News: FIA President Hints At American And Chinese Team Joining Formula One

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has given an insight into what fans could expect from the outcome of the Expressions of Interest process.

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has given a hint to the outcome of the expressions of interest which is currently ongoing, revealing that he would love to have a Chinese and American manufacturer join the F1 grid.

The applications are currently being reviewed with no formal announcements being made yet, although it is thought that the new team(s) will be confirmed later this month. 

The most well-known hopeful team is Andretti Cadillac, championed by the all-American team of Andretti Autosport and General Motors, who has already started developing their car and team in the hopes of being accepted. Although, judging from Sulayem's comments they probably don't have anything to worry about. 

Sulayem has previously given hope for the American team saying, "how could I say no to GM?" But he hasn't previously mentioned the importance of a Chinese manufacturer.

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During an interview with Motorsport-Total.com ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Sulayem explained:

"[My dream is to have a] manufacturing team from the USA and a manufacturing team from China. There are 1.4 billion people in China. Over 50 percent of the electric cars on the road come from China. That's a fact. China is a big market.

"When it comes to electromobility and hybrids, the Chinese get serious. And I think the new power units for 2026 were the right decision. If we hadn't done that, would Audi have come too? That only happened when we passed the new power unit rules and got them approved by all teams."

After questions of how many more teams are allowed in the sport, Sulayem confirmed:

"We have a contract [with Formula 1] that states that we can have up to twelve teams. We don't break any rules, on the contrary, we follow the rules exactly. The FIA, as the guardian of the rules, has to do everything Judge applications. And that's what we did."

Although the teams were not named, Sulayem refers to "three to four" who have sent applications in and paid the $300,000 application fee.