Panthera Team Asia is in continuous discussion with F1 about joining

Formula 1 currently focuses on the survival of the teams, because without the current teams there is no sport. This is a changed situation where the sport used to look for an extension of the current grid. The pandemic threw a spanner in the works, but a team that is still interested in joining is Panthera Team Asia.

Cost reduction

The introduction of the budget cap makes it more attractive for new parties to participate in Formula 1. This is because the costs to be incurred fall within a restriction, which means that new teams do not immediately lag behind enormously when it comes to financial resources. For Benjamin Durand, the man behind Panthera Team Asia, the budget cap is good progress.

To GrandPrix247.com he says: "Everything that goes in the direction of cost reduction is only positive. The decisions that have been taken, and the continued discussion further cut costs while promoting championship stability which sends a strong positive signal to investors. This is easing their worries about the future of F1 in these troubled times."

What also helps is that is being considered by the FIA to standardize non-critical parts of a car and place it in an 'open source' circuit. This significantly reduces the cost of developing such parts, which is very beneficial for the new team.

On break

"It is still too early for us to announce anything. For the past months, we have been focused on consolidating our project that has been hit like everybody in F1 by the sanitary and economic situation." In spite of everything, the project is still alive and kicking, as the team has kept in close contact with Formula 1 all this time.

"We are in continued discussion with all the stakeholders in F1 but we need to wait for the dust to settle and have a clearer idea of the F1 calendar:  racing to resume, new rules to be set up, new Concord Agreement to be signed, before we can move forward again."

"Our focus in this period is to keep our backers motivated and eventually bring more to the table to reinforce the ones who are already here," said Durand who still has the intention to enter Formula 1 with his team. The question is only when? In any case, it will not be before 2022.