{"id":607113,"date":"2026-04-16T03:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T03:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/607113\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T03:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T03:16:11","slug":"f1-boss-plots-comeback-with-brand-new-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/607113\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 boss plots comeback with brand new team"},"content":{"rendered":"

11 teams on the F1 grid? Rubbish. We want more! We want 12! And, apparently, a former team principal wants that too. <\/p>\n

\nOtmar Szafnauer was in the paddock for some time with Racing Point and Alpine, among others, and is now CEO and managing partner of Van Amersfoort Racing in F2 \u2013 with ambitions for more. <\/p>\n

\nThe Romanian-American team boss revealed that he and VAR owner Rafael Villag\u00f3mez Sr. were looking at fighting Cadillac to be the 11th team on the grid, and told GPBlog<\/a> that they want to take up a place alongside them as Team 12 if the opportunity arises. <\/p>\n

Article continues under video<\/p>\n

\nThe ambitious pair are also looking at the possibility of an IndyCar team, Szafnauer revealed, with Prema potentially on the menu as their well publicised financial issues continue. <\/p>\n

\nF1 HEADLINES: How Verstappen could move to McLaren, Piastri talks retirement<\/a> <\/p>\n

Former F1 boss: We might buy existing team<\/p>\n

\nSzafnauer revealed: \u201cThe owner and I were looking at potentially collaborating on a Formula 1 team, which could still happen if there’s something interesting either for sale or the 12th team opens up. <\/p>\n

\n\u201cI developed a relationship with the owner when we were looking at starting the 11th team, but then Cadillac got it. And now, when they open up the possibility of a 12th team, we want to do that too or buy into something.” <\/p>\n

\n\u201cThrough all that discussion, he said to me ‘well, look in the meantime, why don’t you come help me at Van Amersfoort’, because he just bought Van Amersfoort a few years ago and expanded it. <\/p>\n

\n“So I said ‘okay, I’ll come and help you with Van Amersfoort. But for me to do that, I don’t want to just be an employee. I’d like to be your partner’.” <\/p>\n

\nIt’s unclear whether the appetite currently exists among the 11 teams to add a twelfth to their ranks, with owners typically reluctant to give up a slice of their revenue \u2013 with prize money and the like being split an extra way with an added team. <\/p>\n

\nF1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has also warned that expanding to a 12-team grid would introduce serious logistical issues, with some pit lanes and paddocks already tight on room. <\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe have to be cautious,\u201d he said last year. \u201cWe\u2019ll only evaluate a bid of great significance because I think we\u2019re already at a point with no more room \u2013 logistically we\u2019re at the limit.” <\/p>\n

\nREAD MORE: McLaren F1 chief ‘signs pre-contract with Ferrari’ ahead of Lambiase transfer<\/a><\/p>\n

Related\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"11 teams on the F1 grid? Rubbish. We want more! We want 12! And, apparently, a former team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,13752,578,50591,576,577,44,198583,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-607113","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-chris-deeley","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-f1-news-gossip","13":"tag-formula-1","14":"tag-formula1","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-otmar-szafnauer","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607113","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=607113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}