FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is hopeful that the governing body can announce “next month” which teams have been granted permission to join Formula 1, as soon as 2025.
The FIA opened up applications to prospective new teams in February, despite the majority of the paddock and F1 itself being against the move.
The likes of Andretti, Carlin and Hitech are all believed to have submitted an application, with just four grid spots being available.
Formula Equal and LKY SUNZ have also submitted an application, with the FIA set to make an announcement shortly.
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Ben Sulayem has stressed that the governing body are taking the process very seriously, with the FIA not wanting “just any team” in F1.
“I hope we can make the announcement next month,” Ben Sulayem told Formula.hu.
“We are talking about serious people and we don’t want to exclude anyone without a thorough review of the applications we have received.
“We are talking about big names and big money,” the FIA president added. “I think the letter of intent was the right decision and the contract says that there can be 12 teams in the F1 field.
“Of course, we don’t want just any team,” he insisted, “we want A teams and we need a car manufacturer, I prefer manufacturers because it would be good for the sport.
“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.”
Despite Ben Sulayem’s excitement, F1 CEO and president Stefano Domenicali remains very much against the grid expanding beyond 20 cars.
“I’m not changing my mind,” Domenicali told Motorsport.com earlier in July.
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“It’s not the money, as we have said, and I don’t want to anticipate anything because there is a process and I think that I have respect for the fact the FIA launched their process, and very soon we will arrive at the conclusion.
“As we always said, we need to make sure that the decision is right for the business,” the ex-Ferrari boss added. “And this is what I think is the duty of the FIA and us together, that has to be taken.
“There are positives and negatives, that’s part of the evaluation that we’re doing. So I cannot spoil or anticipate anything.”