FIA Tells New Teams to Show Interest in F1

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) confirmed that it has officially opened a new selection process to find one or more teams to fill out the vacancies of the Formula One grid in 2011 and 2012. A few hours after Serbian outfit Stefan Grand Prix revealed, through the voice of its boss Zoran Stefanovic, that they will push for an F1 entry in 2011, the ruling body told all the teams interested in joining the F1 field to “show their interest.”

“The FIA has decided to open a new selection process to identify a candidate team to fill any vacancy that may exist in the FIA Formula One World Championship at the start of the 2011 season. The FIA may also identify one or more possible ‘reserve’ entrants to fill such vacancies,” said the FIA press release.

According to the governing body, all the exact details, criteria and legal requirements will be communicated to the teams after they will have expressed their desire to join the series publicly. The deadline for “showing interest” was set for April 15, with the teams are to pay “an administration fee of €1,000.”

According to the FIA, the criteria by which the members of the international federation will choose the new team(s) will be “the technical ability and resources of the team, the ability of the team to raise and maintain sufficient funding to allow participation, the ability of the team to raise and maintain sufficient funding to allow participation and the FIA’s assessment of the value that the candidate may bring to the Championship as a whole.”

“The timing of this process will depend on the candidates’ responses. However, by way of indication only, the FIA anticipates that full applications will need to be submitted by the end of June, followed by due diligence leading to a decision in July 2010,” concluded the FIA.