BYD has to make 'serious offer' to become F1's 12th team

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is open to Formula 1 adding a 12th team to the grid, but says any candidate will have to join on the championship’s terms.

Ben Sulayem prompted the FIA to launch an expression of interest process in early 2023 for an 11th team to join the grid, despite resistance from many of the existing teams to expand the field.

Cadillac emerged as the sole successful candidate from that process despite continued resistance, becoming F1’s 11th team at the start of 2026.

Since then, there’s been talk of a Chinese manufacturer like BYD weighing up whether to launch an entry of its own.

BYD doesn’t want to acquire an existing team (like Audi did with Sauber for example), so any brand-new team would need the FIA to launch a new expression of interest process.

And, speaking at the New Economy Forum in Madrid, Ben Sulayem opened the door to restarting that process for a manufacturer like BYD.

“The FIA can open for a 12th team. But ‘do we need a team, Mr. President?’

“No, we don't need a team, we need the team," Ben Sulayem said.

“So now we have three races in America and the United States, and we have a manufacturer, we have Haas, but we needed an OEM.

“So I said, and even the promoter, [Formula One Management], agrees that we need the team, and the team has to come from China.”

The formation of F1’s 2026 regulations had attracting manufacturers firmly in mind, with sustainable fuel, partial electrification of the power unit and then the removal of the MGU-H, all crucial to convincing German manufacturer Audi to join - with Honda also reversing its F1 withdrawal.

But Ben Sulayem made it clear that any new manufacturer would be joining on the terms of the FIA/F1 in future.

“I had meetings with them [other manufacturers], and they came and they said, we need to be in. And one of them was BYD, and one was Geely. And we said, 'OK, we will open the expression of interest if you are coming'.

“But the regulations is not going to be affected only by Chinese [manufacturers]. We cannot do this. The regulations have to stay permanent, and it has to [keep] stability in it.

“I know the Chinese are leading in electrification, but is the only way to reach our target in electrification? What are we after? We are after a clean environment and clean air. So there are so many ways to reach it.

“Now we are opening to hydrogen, hybrid, electrification for the WRC [World Rally Championship] in the future, and sustainable fuel.

“So when I had my meetings, I was very, very clear. Why don't you take a team to start with…that was with BYD? Why should I be secret about it?...and they said, ‘no, we want a team ourselves’.

“[Ben Sulayem said] 'Fine. Then come back with a serious offer that we can see that it's going to work’. And this is our regulations. I was very clear with them about the regulation.

“We have a race in China. It's huge. The manufacturers, we have also, we had a Chinese driver [Zhou Guanyu who raced for Sauber from 2022-24] and the Chinese technology is there.

“But it has to be on our terms and our regulations, which is fair for everyone. Because that's also the responsibility of the FIA.”

F1's currently set to move towards having V8 engines from 2031, a logical entry point for any new manufacturer.