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F1 ready for a debate on single and three-car teams - Symonds

Pat Symonds says Formula 1 could soon put the subject of single and three-car teams on its agenda as a means of boosting Grand Prix racing's grid.

Currently, teams entered in the F1 world championship must field two cars, with one-car entries only accepted in the case of special circumstances, like in the case of an equipment or drover deficiency on race day.

Symonds, who joined F1 sporting director Ross Brawn's 2021 rules panel last year, says a change of the two-car rule could come up for debate.

"It hasn't been on the agenda," Symonds said last week, speaking at a Motorsport Industry Association conference.

"(But) it's a good point and probably at our next meeting, it's something we will debate."

The former Williams technical director warned however that tweaking the numbers would likely prove very unpopular with the sport's current teams, as they would fear a loss of their power.

"What has been considered is what is the ideal number of cars. More in the context of 'should we introduce more teams to Formula One?'

"I think at the moment one of the problems that F1 has suffered from is that the teams have probably held too much power.

"It's a little bit of 'turkeys voting for Christmas' sometimes," Symonds added.

"I guess they'll be worried that if there was a smaller number of teams with a big power base, that's probably not conductive to change and we all need to change and evolve as our sport changes, as the world around us changes."

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