Steiner: 'No benefit, just risk' in adding 11th team to F1 grid

Haas team boss Guenther Steiner believes there is currently "no upside" for Formula 1 to expanding the field to eleven teams.

Last week, the FIA formally launched the new application process that will allow prospective F1 teams to apply for a spot on the grid in the future.

In a bid to safeguard the quality of F1’s field, the FIA stated that it would evaluate each application by relying on “rigorous financial and technical analysis” as well as “sustainability and positive societal impact criteria.”

As the team manager of the smallest outfit on the grid, Haas perhaps has the least to gain by seeing F1's prize fund suddenly diluted by the inclusion of an eleventh outfit, a fact that likely isn't lost on Steiner.

• Read also: Horner says Andretti 'a great brand', but money talks

"To bring an 11th team in… five years ago, you could get teams for nothing," he told Sky F1 on Friday. "You could pick it up, nobody wanted them and they went out of business.

"Now all of a sudden, everyone wants a team. But it’s a lot of people which want to come in just ride the wave [of] Formula 1.

"The teams which are here, they are all financially stable, they are all set-up. It’s a very good environment at the moment, nobody is struggling.

"So if you put an 11th team in you get a little bit of a dip in the economy or something, all of a sudden it’s all there. People maybe struggle to survive.

"Why take that risk if there’s no upside? An 11th team, what upside is it bringing? It’s not for me to decide, it’s for FOM to decide because they are managing more, FOM and FIA, the business side of general F1.

"But there is no upside at the moment for an 11th team to come for the other teams. There is just risk, no benefit."

Andretti Global, whose F1 project was upgraded recently to a partnership with GM/Cadillac to help its cause, is working diligently to put together its application to enter F1.

So far, it's the only entity that appears to comply with the FIA's stringent requirements and which also has the public support of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, which has only further frustrated the majority of F1 teams.

Michael Andretti says the sport's pushback against his F1 project is "all about money" and a blatant case of "greed".

"It’s all about greed and looking at themselves and not looking at what is best for the overall growth of the series," said Andretti last month.

"I'm not surprised," he added. "In F1, the owners look out for themselves; not what is best for the series.

"That is the difference between President Mohammed's position and the team owner's position. President Mohammed is looking out for the future of the sport."

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