{"id":417350,"date":"2026-01-18T12:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T12:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/417350\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T12:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T12:40:10","slug":"f1-boosted-its-grid-to-11-teams-by-welcoming-cadillac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/417350\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 boosted its grid to 11 teams by welcoming Cadillac"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Cadillac's<\/a><\/p>\n

When the new Cadillac Formula 1 team attempts to qualify for its first grand prix in Melbourne, it will be exactly one year to the day since Formula One Management confirmed it had welcomed them into the 2026 championship.<\/p>\n

But \u201cwelcomed\u201d may be putting it too strongly. FOM resisted Cadillac\u2019s entry into the championship for months after it was approved by the sport\u2019s governing body, the FIA.<\/p>\n

Now the series has finally, grudgingly, allowed an 11th team to participate. But the F1 field used to feature far more than just 22 cars, so does it need to go even further?<\/p>\n

For<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no good reason not to have more teams. With more seats, F1 could involve drivers from a wider range of countries, attracting more fans. <\/p>\n

More cars would also mean more opportunities for racing, overtaking and all the other points of interest in a grand prix. <\/p>\n

Cadillac\u2019s arrival has shown that many of the arguments offered against expanding the grid were hollow, such as the claim teams could not afford to sacrifice any more garage space. With new engine manufacturers arriving this year, there\u2019s no good reason why Cadillac shouldn\u2019t be the first of many new teams.<\/p>\n

Against<\/p>\n

A bigger grid means more teams sharing the prize money, and therefore less for each of them. This has been solved by requiring the newcomers to lodge an anti-dilution payment.<\/a> Expanding the grid further would raise the same problem again.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen how competitive Cadillac will be. The F1 field has closed up significantly since the last new team, Haas, arrived 10 years ago. If they spend the season a second per lap behind the next-slowest car it will not inspire confidence that others could do better.<\/p>\n

More is not necessarily better, either: as long as the competition at the sharp end is strong, does anyone care who comes 22nd?<\/p>\n

I say<\/p>\n

FOM owner Liberty Media boasts endlessly about how strong the sport is under their leadership. The valuations of the current teams have risen dramatically. It\u2019s therefore hard to take at face value the claim F1 cannot afford to let more competitors in.<\/p>\n

The regulations allow for a larger field. Therefore, if more teams want to participate, they should be allowed to.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine F1 returning to the days when 39 cars were entered<\/a> and a third of the field was unable to join the 26-car grid. The costs of competing are simply too high to justify routinely sending teams home because they failed to qualify. Still, it would be good to see a return to a full, 26-car field and grid, which F1 hasn\u2019t had for more than three decades.<\/p>\n

You say<\/p>\n

Does F1 need more than 11 teams? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.<\/p>\n

Do you agree Formula 1 should have more than 11 teams?<\/p>\n

\t\tNo opinion (2%)
\n\t\tStrongly disagree (2%)
\n\t\tSlightly disagree (2%)
\n\t\tNeither agree nor disagree (4%)
\n\t\tSlightly agree (17%)
\n\t\tStrongly agree (72%)<\/p>\n

Total Voters: 46<\/p>\n

\"Loading\u00a0Loading …<\/p>\n

A RaceFans account is required in order to vote. If you do not have one, register an account here<\/a> or read more about registering here<\/a>. When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.<\/p>\n

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\nBrowse all debates and polls<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the new Cadillac Formula 1 team attempts to qualify for its first grand prix in Melbourne, it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,4228,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-417350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-cadillac","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}