Ben Sulayem ‘dreams’ of full works F1 teams from America and China

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem hopes to see original equipment manufacturers (OEM) from America and China field teams in Formula 1 at some point in the future.

The sport’s governing aims to expand Grand Prix racing’s grid and is still in the middle of processing the candidatures that it has received from potential new entrants as part of its ‘Expression of Interest’ initiative that was launched earlier this year.

However, Formula 1 is still firmly opposed to the principle of accepting an eleventh entrant into its ranks, let alone two, as this would result in an inevitable dilution of its prize money fund, while logistical concerns linked with increasing its grid have also been raised by several of the sport’s team bosses.

But amid F1’s global growth, and especially its continued development in the US, Ben Sulayem insists F1 must have an open mind on a potential expansion.

"If a team is interested and our rules say we can have so many teams, how can we say no?," argued the FIA president recently.

• Read also: F1 and FIA still deadlocked over adding new team

Andretti-Cadillac's campaigning to join motorsport's elite has been well chronicled these past months and its project partially fits the bill as an American OEM applicant thanks to General Motors' support.

And Ford's partnership with Red Bull is also a compelling case of an American manufacturer getting involved with F1.

But ideally, Ben Sulayem would also love to see a Chinese manufacturer join the fray.

"My dream is a full United States of America team from an OEM and I would like to also see an OEM from China," Ben Sulayem told Motorsport-total.com.

"Everybody is allowed to have a dream. But it is also achievable.

"You have 1.4 billion people in China, and over 50% of your vehicles on the road, electric vehicles, are Chinese. That's facts. It is a big market."

Given China's swift paradigm shift to electric vehicles, Ben Sulayem believes that F1's next-generation engine regulations, which plan to have a 50/50 split between the unit's ICE and electrical power, will spur China's interest.

"The Chinese are serious when it comes to EV and hybrid," he said. "And I tell you something: the PU last year was the right thing to do.

"If we didn't do it, do you really think Audi would have come and joined? That happened only after the PU was approved and all the teams signed it.

"We did it for the good of the sport. And it opened the door. Honda came, Ford joined, Porsche are deciding. I would say it is still warm with Porsche and Formula 1. All that happened for a good reason."

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