11th F1 team on the grid? Mercedes boss gives his take

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has given his take on the possibility of an 11th team on the F1 grid. He feels that the new team should add value and bring something more to the table. Since the last season, there have been suggestions that multiple teams have shown a keen interest in joining F1.

Prospective teams like Andretti have already announced a major partnership with Cadillac that would help the brand take things to another level. At the same time, Andretti has faced vocal opposition to its intentions to join F1.

Most of this opposition has come from front-running teams like Mercedes and Red Bull. Having said that, FIA announced earlier in the season a process of application for prospective teams.

When questioned on his take on a potential 11th team on the grid, the Mercedes boss was quick to point out that the team does not have a say in the process.

However, he believes, that the position the sport is in today has been a result of millions of dollars of investments by the team in multiple areas. That, according to Wolff, needs to be kept in mind when bringing an 11th team on board. During the pre-race press conference, he said:

"First of all, we have no say in this. If we're being asked… Our opinion is being asked. But we're not part of the process of choosing a team or not. The opinion that we have expressed is that it's very difficult in Formula 1 to perform. It has taken us many years to be where we are."

He added:

"We've gone through really difficult times where Formula 1 wasn't the blockbuster it is today, and therefore whoever enters the sport, I think it would be beneficial for all of us if they can really bring something new to the show, if it can help us to increase our audiences or if there is lots of marketing dollars that are being invested, similar to what we have done over the years."

We need to be open-minded: Mercedes boss

Toto Wolff

Toto Wolff admitted that everyone needs to be open-minded when it comes to this issue and see if there is something that helps make the sport even bigger.

"Red Bull and Mercedes, sitting here, I mean, hundreds of millions. And if that were the case, I think we need to be all open-minded and say how can we contribute to making that happen?

"But again, we're not part of the governance. And so I would very much hope that we find someone, if we decided to go for another team, that somebody can really leverage what we have today and make it even greater."

It will be interesting to see if we see an 11th team on the F1 grid in the future, as for now, things don't look great on that front.