F1 Canterbury?
F1 authorities plan to expand the sport by adding more teams to the grid in the near future – could it get a team from Canterbury?
F1 has received a bid for a new Formula One team from Australian billionaire David Dicker. The team could be based out of North Canterbury as per reports if the bid is accepted by the concerned F1 authorities. Dicker’s Rodin Carlin Racing team based in Waiau has submitted the bid with an eye on competing in the 2025 Formula One season. Besides forming a new team, Dicker is also ensuring that Waiau becomes a major motor racing hub with its own racetrack and F1 car.
David Dicker believes he has assembled all the gear and staff to build an F1 car. He has already started implementing his ambitious plan and put in place a 5 km racetrack, with 40 staff to look after it including a track builder and a greenkeeper charged with keeping the lawns at the complex immaculate. Speaking on his plans of entering F1, Dicker said: “Everyone wants to go to Formula One because it’s the ultimate in motor racing. All the other series pale into insignificance by comparison. From my point of view, it’s just a game. There is an opportunity there and we are going to give it a shot.”
F1 has made their ambitions clear about expanding the sport and adding more teams to the grid. Earlier this year, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem suggested that there could be more F1 teams in the near future. Ben Sulayem asked the governing body to check for potential teams who could join F1 in the near future.
F1 has been a 10-team championship since 2016 and Ben Sulayem indicated that he intends to expand the grid in the upcoming years. The green signal from the President himself means that the concerned authorities have implemented the process of checking out applications from interested parties.
After F1 made it clear that they were looking for new teams, Cadillac were the first team to express their interest to join F1 in partnership with Michael Andretti.
Andretti wasted no time to announce his team’s partnership with General Motors through Cadillac, as the American Andretti Autosport team looks for an entry into Formula 1. However, the inclusion of a team is a time-consuming and complicated process.
A new entrant would have to be approved by the FIA and also reach an agreement with F1 itself regarding commercial rights which is pretty tricky. It remains to be seen how soon this plan gets materialised.
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