FIA may want F1 to expand, but are current drivers on board?

At Thursday’s press conferences ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, drivers addressed potential F1 expansion

The Formula 1 grid may soon have two additional drivers, thanks to a recent decision from the sport’s governing body to proceed with a bid submitted by Andretti-Cadillac to add an 11th team to the field.

However, the current crop of drivers are somewhat skeptical about the potential addition.

The sport’s governing body, Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) approved the Andretti-Cadillac bid earlier this week. That bid now goes to Formula One Management (FOM) for further consideration.

In Thursday’s press conferences ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, drivers were asked about the potential addition of Andretti-Cadillac to the field. While the drivers who addressed the issue were rather diplomatic with their remarks, and some moved along quickly saying it was now up to F1. to decide, there were certainly some who seemed more open to the idea than others.

“Yeah, in my situation I think, yes, it could definitely help, obviously having more cars on the grid for racing, but it’s something I’ve never really thought about because it’s always just been 10 teams like this,” said Liam Lawson of AlphaTauri. “So yeah, honestly, I don’t really know. I think, specifically for someone like me, yes, it can help make their step in Formula 1.”

Lawson’s situation is rather unique, as he is the only driver in the field who knows that he will be without a full-time seat next season. As he outlined in his answer to a question about the potential for Andretti-Cadillac to join the field, adding two more seats would give a young driver looking for a spot — like him — a better shot at finding a full-time ride.

Another young driver, Oscar Piastri with McLaren, concurred. “I think it could create opportunities for younger people coming through,” said the McLaren driver.

A driver at the other end of the career spectrum did seem to come out in favor of the move. Asked about the Andretti-Cadillac bid, veteran driver Fernando Alonso praised both Michael Andretti, and the racing outfit.

“Yeah. A great team. I know Michael, and he will be, obviously a great name to add to Formula 1 but there are other people in charge of this kind of decisions and first the FIA and the FOM and the teams as well. So, yeah, you know, for me, it doesn’t… I don’t know exactly what to say,” said Alonso.

“Whatever is the final decision is going to be OK. I like Michael, as I said, I like the organization, but I also understand other things, and I will support as well, whatever Aston Martin the position and, you know, I will be okay with anything,” added the veteran driver.

One driver that seemed to push back on the addition was George Russell. The Mercedes driver offered perhaps the takeaway quote for the media, with his “quality over quantity” argument.

“I think Formula 1’s the pinnacle and we want to see quality competition so I’m not for, I’m not against, but definitely if there were to be an extra team it’s got to be a quality outfit, one that can add to the sport,” said Russell. “And we want to see competition, in an ideal world you want to see all ten teams fighting against one another. So I’m sure F1 will come to the best conclusion and answer whatever it may be, but we’ve got to have quality over quantity.”

The Mercedes driver immediately qualified his remarks with this: “But as I said, I don’t feel strongly.”

Russell’s comments may be curious to some, given that AlphaTauri is currently a sister team with Red Bull, focused on driver development. However, that might be a discussion for another time.

One thing that is clear? The drivers acknowledged that the decision is now in F1’s hands, and they will trust in the sport’s final judgment. That was the major theme to come out of their remarks on Thursday.