Toto Wolff explains criteria new F1 teams needs to meet to join grid

Toto Wolff has outlined the criteria he feels any new F1 team would need to fulfil before joining the grid as an eleventh team.

In recent months, there has been fairly sizeable speculation that Andretti would like to join the current 10 F1 teams but they have been met by scrutiny, with some already in the sport suggesting they’d need to pay a very high entry fee and doubts expressed over what they would add to the sport.

Perhaps that seems a little harsh, especially before even giving them a chance, but this is Formula 1 at all and, if nothing else, it’s a cut-throat sport and business.

The numbers talk more than anything else and Wolff, a businessman who has made a serious amount of money in his career, is all too aware of that.

Indeed, speaking in the Mercedes motorhome on Saturday evening after George Russell stuck his W13 on pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Wolff explained what a new team needs to do before being considered to join the grid, with the question being asked as to whether a brand like Audi, linked with being engine manufacturers at least from mid-decade, would be welcomed more given their size compared to an Andretti:

“I think that whoever joins as an eleventh team, whoever gets an entry, needs to demonstrate how they can add to the business.

“Andretti is a great name and they have done exceptional things in the US but this is sport and this is business and we need to understand what a team can provide.

“If a multi-national group joins F1 and demonstrates they are going to spend big amounts of dollars in various markets then it’s a totally different value proposition for the other teams.

“We’re not going to increase our value by just issuing new franchises to those that are not going to increase the