F1 could make final decision on $1,000,000,000 expansion process within “four-to-six weeks”, states FIA boss

It has been hinted that the F1 expansion of $1 billion, which has been a major topic amongst the teams this season, could happen as soon as the United States Grand Prix and the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix hit in October and November.

Multiple brands have shown interest in entering F1 in later seasons, including Michael Andretti's entry with Cadillac and the UK-based Hitech group has also been keen to make their entry on the Formula 1 grid. But with 10 teams already present, there has been the issue of the prize money.

Multiple teams resisted the entry of more teams because then the split would have to be increased. However, it was mentioned that the prize money could be increased, and according to Mohammad Ben Sulayem, the resolution could come out within weeks.

Speaking to Formula.hu, he revealed that the letter of intent has been sent over, and the decision of having more teams could be coming very soon. He said,

"We've taken our time, the FIA team has worked very hard on the letter of intent, we've had meetings with the teams to review their bids and I think we'll have a final decision in four to six weeks."

This decision could impact F1's industry in a major way, as the entry of two new teams would mean that there will be 24 cars on the grid (the FIA allows having up to 26 cars). The competition would surely increase.

The prize pool was set to be increased by $200 million per team, but the recent growth in the popularity of the sport could push the numbers up to $600 million. This surely means that if two more teams join the grid, the expansion will cross the $1 billion mark, and that is the same decision that could be made within weeks, as Sulayem quoted.

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FIA president 'needs manufacturers' as new teams on the F1 grid

Currently, there are multiple teams that share the same engines on the grid, and this will remain the case if more teams join and do not manufacture their own engines.

As Ben Sulayem mentioned, he would prefer having teams that are also manufacturers, because according to him, it would help the sport. By this, he could mean that it would make F1 more competitive because there will be more engines running. He said,

"Of course, we don't want just any team. We want A teams and we need a car manufacturer. I prefer manufacturers because it would be good for the sport."