MARK HUGHES
“The chances of Liberty accepting any of the new teams looks slim”
Formula 1 and the FIA have together got themselves into a potentially sticky situation regarding additional new teams. It will be recalled that FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem opened up the tendering process for potential new teams a couple of years ago and that Michael Andretti’s Andretti Autosport IndyCar team jumped through the required hoops to apply. Three others have since done so, the most serious-looking of them being Hitech, the Silverstone-based team with a great reputation in the FIA feeder formulas, F2, F3, Formula Regional and F4. It expanded with the help of the father of Russian driver Nikita Mazepin before the FIA placed restrictions on Russian drivers after the Ukrainian invasion. The FIA has yet to approve any of the applicants.