A new manufacturer as twelfth team in F1: These are the concrete plans!

Otmar Szafnauer scrolls through his WhatsApp messages. “Who did I send this to again?” murmurs the former Force India/Racing Point/Aston Martin and Alpine team boss. Then suddenly: “I know, to Sergio [Perez].”

A little later, the American shows a photo after the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2014; the entire team captured, with Sergio Perez (who had finished third), team boss Szafnauer and Nico Hulkenberg (fifth) as the radiant centrepiece. If one looks closely, one can also see Gianpiero Lambiase, currently Max Verstappen's race engineer - who worked at Force India at the time.

That evening in the Gulf state was one of the many proud moments in Szafnauer's long career. It is therefore not at all surprising that the American with Romanian roots has been asked to take the lead in realising a twelfth team in Formula 1. In an exclusive interview with GPblog, Szafnauer reveals his plans.

"If a 12 team opportunity becomes available, if and when, I want to be ready so that I will put an application in and I want to be ready so it can be successful," says Szafnauer.

The American can already meet a number of important requirements from the FIA ​​and Formula 1. "I know the criteria is you should have a car manufacturer behind you, which I do," says the American, who cannot reveal which manufacturer that is.

According to Szafnauer, there is a simple reason why this unknown manufacturer wants to enter F1. “If you're a car manufacturer, what better sport to be in than motor racing? You know what I mean? Yeah, you can sponsor golf and yes you can sponsor tennis or Ford also used to sponsor the Premiership, football. So what better sponsorship or sport to be in, if you're a car company than motor racing? It's the best. Some of them sponsor sailboat racing. Well, it's not as good as motorsport. So that's why they want to be in.”

It is certainly no coincidence that Szafnauer was asked to lead the project. He has been active in F1 for no less than 28 years, in various roles. “They came to me. They are smart enough to know what they don’t know. They don’t know the business. They're also talking to some co-investors. One of the co-investors I work closely with.”

The American didn’t have to think long about the proposal. “My first thought was at the time, I think I know a little bit more than the people that were trying to get the 11th team. Because this is my life. This wasn't their life. Their life was IndyCar and some other things. This is what I've done for the last 28 years.”

Szafnauer explicitly says that he does not intend to eventually become the team principal of the twelfth team. “The next step for me is a bit like Toto [Wolff], be part owner of a team. So if I put this together, I get to have some shareholding. [I'll] Help with shaping the team, help with recruiting the right people. Put a team principal in place.”

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the FIA ​​president, has previously expressed his desire to allow a 12th team into F1. But Szafnauer has not yet spoken to the motorsport federation about the plans. “I haven't had the discussion yet because like I say if the process happens I want to be ready and that's all. So not start hiring people and putting a team together and put pressure on the FIA or the board.”

That’s exactly what the new Cadillac team did. “Yeah, but the guys who are my financial backers don't want to do that. They don't want to take that route. So just be ready with a business plan, know what you're doing, know how long it takes, have a list of people that you think you're going to hire. 15:00and have a realistic time frame as to when you're going to start racing. And that to me will be '28 or '29 not tomorrow because you have to be competitive.”

Should it manage to get on the F1 grid in 2028 or 2029, the new team will have the disadvantage that its competitors already know the technical regulations inside and out. However, Szafnauer has no problem with his team entering in the middle of a cycle, rather than waiting for 2031 - when the next technical cycle starts.

"So if the powertrain doesn't change so much, the regulation change five years time, [it] shouldn't be that bad" said the American.

In any case, it is already certain where the new team will be based. Although it will be an American team, the factory will not be there. “No. It has to be in Europe. Look, for me, the reason to do a 12 team is pretty simple. It's got to be competitive and you have to have the goal of winning the world championship.”

“And they have to be in the UK. Why is NVIDIA in Silicon Valley? Why is it not in Boston? Boston's got MIT and Harvard."