The last team to join Formula 1 was Haas in 2016. Before that, 3 teams joined in 2010: Lotus, Marussia, and HRT, all of whom had various different owners before eventually going out of business. In 2020, two teams expressed their desire to enter the sport by 2021, but the ongoing pandemic put a stop to any teams wanting to enter until at least 2022. The teams showing the most interest in entering the sport are Campos Racing and Panthera Asia Racing.
Written by Janvi Unni, Edited by Morgan Holiday
Campos Racing
The Spanish-based Formula 2 team expressed a desire to enter Formula 1, with their CEO Salvatore Gandolfo saying that they had enlisted the help of the Spanish Motorsport Federation to help them in their bid to enter F1. Gandolfo had meetings with Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey in May 2020. Gandolfo also said that he was confident that the new regulations would make it easier for smaller teams to enter the sport. Their prospective drivers should they join Formula 1 are Pascal Wehrlein, who is racing with Porsche in Formula E, and Alex Palou, who currently drives for Chip Ganassi Racing in IndyCar.
Panthera Asia Racing
The Asian-backed team expressed their desire to enter Formula 1 as soon as possible, but were forced to wait until 2022. Team boss Benjamin Durand said, “it’s been a rollercoaster ride, but we’re still alive. We are currently aiming to enter the sport in 2022. We have a group of people working on the car and we are talking to investors on the side.”
It’s already hard for new teams to enter Formula 1 due to the high entry fee on top of the already expensive cost of running a team. According to Formula 1’s Concorde Agreement, each team receives a share of the income generated by F1, which is evenly distributed among all 10 of them. More teams means that each team receives a lesser share of the profit, which could hurt some of the smaller teams.
Formula 1 Motorsport Director Ross Brawn doesn’t want new teams in the sport just yet, saying that a period of stability is required after the pandemic. Brawn added that the FIA wanted to make sure that the revised rules and regulations from 2022 onwards had settled in well with all the current teams before adding any more.
It’s unlikely that we’ll see any new teams in 2022, but in the future, who knows?